Dr. Ready on the Benefit of PD-L1 Inhibition in SCLC

Neal E. Ready, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, member, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses the benefit of PD-L1 inhibition in small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Immunotherapy activates the body’s own immune system to fight the cancer, Ready says. Traditionally, there had only been anecdotal success with this therapy in the form of vaccines as well as other approaches across tumor types. Over the last 2 decades, basic science has indicated that there are checkpoints on immune cells that allow the tumor to turn off the immune system. The use of checkpoint inhibitors such as the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) are ways in which to overcome this.

In extensive-stage SCLC, atezolizumab is being combined with chemotherapy. Data from the pivotal IMpower133 study showed that chemoimmunotherapy improved overall survival for these patients, notably extending survival beyond 1 and 2 years for select patients.