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REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1554871
This article is part of the Research TopicCommunity Series in Novel Biomarkers for Predicting Response to Cancer Immunotherapy: Volume IIIView all 10 articles
Recent Advances in Biomarkers for Predicting the Efficacy of Immunotherapy in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Provisionally accepted- 1Center for National Cancer, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
- 2Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China
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Lung cancer continues to be the primary cause of cancer-related deaths globally, with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounting for approximately 85% of all instances. Recently, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have transformed the treatment approach for NSCLC, however, only a subset of patients experiences significant benefits. Therefore, identifying reliable biomarkers to forecast the efficacy of ICIs is crucial for ensuring the safety and effectiveness of treatments, becoming a major focus of current research efforts. This review highlights the recent advances in predictive biomarkers for the efficacy of ICIs in the treatment of NSCLC, including PD-L1 expression, tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS), tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), tumor genomic alterations, transcriptional signatures, circulating biomarkers, and the microbiome. Furthermore, it underscores the pivotal roles of liquid biopsy, sequencing technologies, and digital pathology in biomarker discovery. Special attention is given to the predictive value of TLS, circulating biomarkers, and transcriptional signatures. The review concludes that the integration of multiple biomarkers holds promise for achieving more accurate efficacy predictions and optimizing personalized immunotherapy strategies. By providing a comprehensive overview of the current progress, this review offers valuable insights into biomarker-based precision medicine for NSCLC and outlines future research directions.
Keywords: NSCLC, immune checkpoint inhibitors, biomarker, tertiary lymphoid structures, Circulating biomarkers
Received: 03 Jan 2025; Accepted: 18 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Song, Zhang, Zhang, Xue, Zhang and Tan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Guochao Zhang, Center for National Cancer, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
Fengwei Tan, Center for National Cancer, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.