Method for treating cancer using immune checkpoint inhibitor

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for treating cancer using an immune checkpoint inhibitor, and more particularly, to a method for treating cancer by identifying the expression of an immune checkpoint protein and a lymphoid or myeloid cell-specific protein in circulating tumor cells isolated from blood, sorting patients, in whom the expression of the immune checkpoint protein and the expression of the lymphoid or myeloid cell-specific protein are identified as positive, as patients to whom an immunotherapeutic anticancer agent can be applied, and administering the immune checkpoint inhibitor to the patients. Since the method for treating cancer using circulating tumor cells according to the present invention sorts patients by simultaneously identifying the expression of an immune checkpoint protein and a lymphoid or myeloid cell-specific protein in a liquid biopsy, the method has a very high level of agreement with biopsies, and thus a high degree of commercial utility. Therefore, the method according to the present invention is useful for diagnosing and treating cancer.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.