Multiplex immunohistochemistry/immunofluorescence is superior to tumor mutational burden and PD‐L1 immunohistochemistry for predicting response to anti‐PD‐1/PD‐L1 immunotherapy

摘要

Since cancer was first reported, the fight against it has been ongoing. In 1971, scientists formally claimed to have found a cure for cancer and multiple breakthroughs have subsequently been made. However, since then, nearly half a century has elapsed and cancer still remains one of the leading threats to human health. The main problem is that we have tried to use various shortcuts to fight cancer without properly understanding it. However, although our treatments are constantly evolving, so are the cancers. We began by surgically removing tumors and then continued treatment by using chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and other treatment strategies to improve post‐surgical survival. But as the number of surgically unresectable tumors increased, these externally prescribed therapies, alone or in combination, were given prior to surgery in an attempt to shrink the tumor, converting unresectable tumors to surgically resectable. Then, based on the perioperative or post‐surgical pathology observations, doctors evaluated their potential adjuvant efficacies to determine whether they should be prescribed further adjuvant therapy. The main problem at present is that despite the use of all these treatment modalities, cancers are not only still recurring after treatment but they are also able to resist previous treatments which worked.