Immunotherapy for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: current use of immune checkpoint inhibitors therapy

Patients diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) have high cure rates with current treatment options including immuno-polychemotherapy. However, around 30% of cases do not respond or develop relapse disease. For this, it is necessary to search for new therapeutic options. In recent years, therapy using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells has been a strategy for those patients with LBDCG in progression or relapse, although only 30–40% of cases achieve durable remissions. The programmed death-1 (PD-1) receptor regulates the T-cell-mediated immune response through binding to its ligands (PD-L1). Some tumor cells present high expression of PD-L1, which down-regulates T-cell activation. The beneficial antitumor activity of PD-1 and PD-L1 has been widely demonstrated in certain solid organ malignancies. However, their utility in the treatment of lymphomas is complex. To date, different clinical trials have demonstrated its usefulness as an innovative therapeutic alternative in these tumors. In this review article, we evaluate the literature on the role of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway in DLBCL and describe future strategies involving these new anticancer agents in this lymphoid neoplasm.