Genetic alterations within tumors may influence immune system engagement eventually also impacting therapy response; in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines EGFR mutations or EML4-ALK fusions activate the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway via PD-L1 upregulation, inducing immune escape (Akbay et al., 2013; Ota et al., 2015). Here, PDCD1 is linked to non-small cell lung carcinoma.