Abstract:

Cancer immunotherapy by antibody blockade of immune evasion mechanisms, especially the PD-1/B7-H1(PD-L1) pathway, elicits strong antitumor immunity and shows prolonged and ground-breaking therapeutic effect in various types of human cancers, which is awarded Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2018. Dr. Chen Lieping who first cloned B7-H1 in 1999 and clarified its critical function in cancer immunity, laid the foundation for this field and the success application of PD pathway in the treatment of cancer. This article reviews the major contributions of Dr. Chen along the timeline of the progress of cancer immunotherapy, highlighting the distinct features of PD pathway and discussing the prospects of the field.