Dr. McDermott on Targeting PD-1/PD-L1 in Kidney Cancer

David F. McDermott, MD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the potential of agents that target PD-1 or PD-L1 as treatments for patients with kidney cancer.

McDermott says data so far for treatments that target PD-1 or PD-L1 in patients with kidney cancer has been remarkable, specifically since many tumors express PD-L1 on the cell surface, as a way of avoiding being attacked by the immune system.

This ability of the tumor to supress the immune system can now be blocked with the administration of monoclonal antibodies, states McDermott. These agents bind to the ligand (PD-L1) or its receptor on the T cell (PD-1) resulting in a recovery of T cell function that causes antitumor activity.