Immune Checkpoint for a Kidney Cancer and Other Cancers

: Immune checkpoint inhibitors have been getting increasing attention in the field of cancer treatment, resulting in the investigation of numerous drugs and target cancers. Clinical trials of immune checkpoint inhibitors have focused on malignant melanomas and non-small cell lung cancer;however, recently, clinical trials have been carried out for other cancers. To date, 31 phase III clinical trials have been conducted for 13 types of cancer. Recently, the results of the CheckMate025 kidney cancer and CheckMate141 head and neck cancer trials have been reported. These reports showed that nivolumab significantly enhanced overall survival in comparison to that associated with an existing second-line treatment drug. Based on these results, the approval of nivolumab for use in renal cell cancer and head and neck cancer is expected in the near future. Furthermore, the results of 20 phase III clinical trials will be submitted from 2017 to 2019, expanding the approval of immune checkpoint inhibitors. However, many issues such as biomarker searches, the evaluation of antitumor effects, and the impact on medical economy remain to be resolved. In this report, we outline clinical trial trends and the future prospects for immune checkpoint inhibitors.