Although prophylactic treatment with corticosteroids may be a safeguard to prevent acute lung injury, mechanistic immune interactions of corticosterioid use may implicate efficacy of the programmed cell death 1 inhibitor (PD-1) inhibitors, which are being increasingly integrated with stereotactic ablative forms of radiation in all stages of NSCLC. Here, PDCD1 is linked to non-small cell lung carcinoma.