The revolution of lung cancer treatment: from vaccines, to immune checkpoint inhibitors, to chimeric antigen receptor T therapy

Lung carcinoma is one of malignant tumors to human health worldwide. The two main types are small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) and non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). In recent years, despite the great progress in the treatment of lung cancer, the survival rate of lung cancer patients is still not satisfactory. Nowadays, the revolution of lung cancer managements is changing the situation. Here, we review recent advances in vaccines, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell immunotherapy in the field of lung cancer. ICIs proved to have promising efficacy and safety compared with chemotherapy. Preclinical data on CAR-T are still insufficient, and several phase I trials are being conducted. We have attempted to provide an overview of the most recent progress and a prediction on prospective advancements.