Various promising checkpoint inhibitors are under investigation in the palliative treatment of SCC and EGC: The combination of tislelizumab (PD-1 inhibitor) with chemotherapy (5-FU/platin-based) in the first-line therapy showed significant improvement of OS of 6.7 months in SCC patients with locally advanced/metastatic disease (median OS 17.3 vs. 10.6 months, HR 0.66 [95 % CI 0.54–0.80]; p<0.0001) (RATIONALE 306 trial) [15]. Here, PDCD1 is linked to metastatic neoplasm.