PDCD1 and non-small cell lung carcinoma: For this reason, Programmed death 1 (PD-1) or programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) were recommended as the standard first-line therapy for most advanced NSCLC patients based on data from clinical studies (Borghaei et al., 2015; Antonia et al., 2017; Rittmeyer et al., 2017; Gandhi et al., 2018).