Dr. Papadimitrakopoulou on Role of Immunotherapy in Lung Cancer

Vassiliki A. Papadimitrakopoulou, MD, professor, Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the subset of patients with lung cancer which would derive the most benefit from immunotherapy.

Patients with lung cancer who have a high expression of PD-L1—in more than 50% of cells—are found to benefit from PD-L1 monotherapy. It is not certain whether this is the best way to indicate eligibility for immunotherapy.

Although, with the recent approval of pembrolizumab (Keytruda), this subset of patients should also be considered for upfront immunotherapy, says Papadimitrakopoulou.