ABSTRACT
The gastric cancer incidence rate is the highest in East Asia and South and Central America. The rates are particularly high in Japan and Korea, where gastric cancer is the main cause of death in men, and in China, where gastric cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Presently, the 5-year survival rate of advanced gastric cancer is estimated to be approximately 5%-20%, and there is no effective treatment. Immunotargeting drugs can reverse the immune escape associated with the immune checkpoint pathway, thus changing the treatment strategy for patients with advanced gastric cancer. As a humanized IgG4 monoclonal antibody designed to bind programmed death-1 (PD-1) and block the interaction between PD-1 and its ligand, nivolumab was the first immune-checkpoint inhibitor approved for gastric cancer in China. This drug made a breakthrough in the“shortage of the posterior line”in the treatment of gastric cancer in China. In this paper, the mechanism of action, clinical trials, immune-related adverse events, hyper-progressive disease, pseudo-progression of the tumor, biomarkers, and other aspects of the latest research progress on nivolumab are reviewed.