Combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab in the first‑line treatment of non‑small cell lung cancer

01/2021

Doc. MUDr. David Vrána, Ph.D.

Komplexní onkologické centrum, Nemocnice Nový Jičín

SUMMARY

Metastatic non-small cell lung cancer represents a disease with poor prognosis. Introducing tyrosine kinase inhibitors of specific mutations into daily practice improved the prognosis of a group of patients, however for majority of the patients before the era of immunotherapy the chemotherapy was the only option. Several molecules working as immunotherapeutic agents have proven their effectivity and safety in the first and second line of palliative treatment of the lung cancer. Recently the combination of nivolumab with ipilimumab was introduced into the clinical practice based on the CheckMate 227 and CheckMate 9LA trials. Combined immunotherapy with nivolumab and ipilimumab represents a new treatment option for patients with non-small cell lung cancer without specific mutations regardless of programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression. Registration in the Czech Republic as well as health care reimbursement is unfortunately missing at this moment for this new combination.

Key words

non-small cell lung cancer, nivolumab, ipilimumab, CheckMate 227, CheckMate 9LA trials