Overview
General treatment guidelines and consensus statements include guidance on the use of immunotherapies such as the immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) nivolumab and pembrolizumab among other therapies, and there are also specific guidelines only for immunotherapies. Treatment guidelines can be specific to cancer types, such as melanoma and NSCLC, and other guidelines are broad and cover immunotherapy overall. The main organizations that develop these clinical guidelines are: National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), and European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).
Key Topics Covered in Guidelines and Consensus Statements
Algorithms and other information on selecting first-line therapies and subsequent treatment sequencing are an important component of guidelines and consensus statements. Combining ICIs with other immunotherapies, as well as with targeted agents or radiation, and the role of adjuvant and neoadjuvant immunotherapy, are also discussed. The role of biomarkers, such as PD-L1 and MSI-H, to determine eligibility for treatment and treatment response, and the multidisciplinary management of immune-related adverse events (irAEs), are other topics included.
Important Considerations for Healthcare Providers
Some considerations that are important to healthcare providers are: how the guidelines should be used in real-world clinical practice if/when it is appropriate to not follow current guidelines; how to stay up to date with changing guidelines; understanding the similarities and differences across guidelines; and how to explain guidelines to patients.
Suggested Resources
This page includes links to guidelines on organization websites and links to recently published guidelines and consensus statements that are relevant to healthcare providers who prescribe or who are interested in cancer immunotherapies. These evidence-based expert resources are valuable sources of information to optimize the use of immunotherapies and manage irAEs.
National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Evidence-Based Guidelines
NCCN Main Guidelines Page
https://www.nccn.org/guidelines/category_1
NCCN Guidelines on Management of Immunotherapy-Related Toxicities
https://www.nccn.org/guidelines/guidelines-detail?category=3&id=1486
Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Evidence-Based Guidelines/Publications
SITC Guidelines Main Page
https://www.sitcancer.org/publications/cpg
SITC Guidelines Publications
Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) clinical practice guideline on immunotherapy for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma, version 3.0
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41871874/
Updated pan-tumor guidelines for neoadjuvant scoring of pathologic response: a joint SITC and INMC effort
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41469296/
Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Consensus Statement on Essential Biomarkers for Immunotherapy Clinical Protocols
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40054999/
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Evidence-Based Guidelines/Publications
ASCO Guidelines Main Page
https://ascopubs.org/guidelines
ASCO Guidelines Publications
Immunotherapy and Targeted Therapy for Advanced Gastroesophageal Cancer: ASCO Guideline Update
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41747202/
European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Evidence-Based Guidelines/Publications
ESMO Guidelines Main Page
https://www.esmo.org/guidelines
ESMO Guidelines Publications
ESMO-ESTRO consensus statements on the safety of combining radiotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors, VEGF(R) inhibitors, or multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41016600/