About 50% of NSCLC patients are diagnosed when they are already at stage IV, and their five‐year survival rate is less than 10%.1 The emergence of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting programmed cell death 1 (PD‐1), or its ligand (PD‐L1) has significantly changed the treatment and management of locally advanced and advanced NSCLC. Here, PDCD1 is linked to non-small cell lung carcinoma.