Journal of Gastric Cancer

The Korean Gastric Cancer Association (대한위암학회)
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Recent Progress in Immunotherapy for Gastric Cancer

  • Jeesun Yoon (Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine) ;
  • Tae-Yong Kim (Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine) ;
  • Do-Youn Oh (Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine)
  • Received : 2022.10.24
  • Accepted : 2023.01.02
  • Published : 2023.01.31
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Abstract

Gastric cancer (GC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Under the standard of care, patients with advanced GC (AGC) have a median survival time of approximately 12-15 months. With the emergence of immunotherapy as a key therapeutic strategy in medical oncology, relevant changes are expected in the systemic treatment of GC. In the phase III ATTRACTION-2 trial, nivolumab, a monoclonal anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) antibody, as a third- or later-line treatment improved overall survival (OS) compared with placebo in patients with AGC. Furthermore, nivolumab in combination with 5-fluorouracil and platinum as a first-line treatment improved OS in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2)-negative AGC in the global phase III CheckMate-649 study. Another anti-PD-1 antibody, pembrolizumab, in combination with trastuzumab and cytotoxic chemotherapy as a first-line treatment, significantly improved the overall response rate in patients with HER2-positive AGC. Therefore, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are essential components of the current treatment of GC. Subsequent treatments after ICI combination therapy, such as ICI rechallenge or combination therapy with agents having other modes of action, are being actively investigated to date. On the basis of the success of immunotherapy in the treatment of AGC, various clinical trials are underway to apply this therapeutic strategy in the perioperative and postoperative settings for patients with early GC. This review describes recent progress in immunotherapy and potential immunotherapy biomarkers for GC.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This article was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (Grant No. 2021R1A2C2007430), the Institute of Smart Healthcare Innovative Medical Sciences, a Brain Korea 21 four program, Seoul National University.

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