Dr. Scagliotti on Immunotherapy and Precision Medicine in Lung Cancer

Giorgio Vittorio Scagliotti, MD, PhD, chief of the Medical Oncology Division at the S. Luigi Hospital, Orbassano (Torino), and head of the Department of Oncology at University of Torino, Italy, discusses immunotherapy in the context of precision medicine in lung cancer.

In the oncology space, there is a movement toward precision medicine as a means to tailor treatment to a patient’s particular disease characteristics. Immunotherapy is an emerging pillar in the systemic treatment of non—small cell lung cancer in general, says Scagliotti, and is appropriately considered to be in the realm of precision medicine. This is because immunotherapy is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and precision medicine is based on tailoring therapy to the particular patient.

Currently, PD-L1 expression is one of the biomarkers that is often used to indicate that a patient will respond, as it is easily assessed in clinical practice, explains Scagliotti. Based on current data, it can be considered as an enrichment factor, he adds. Overall response rates and durations of response observed in clinical trials have been shown to be more favorable in patients who are PD-L1—positive.