Dr. Dino PratoEnvita Medical Centers · Founder and CEO at Envita Medical Centers

PD-1 inhibitors changed oncology — but they have limits #shorts

30 Mar 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:47

In this YouTube short, Dr. Dino Prato discusses the limitations of PD‑1 inhibitor therapy after more than a decade of use. He cites a Frontiers in Oncology analysis showing that only about 19% of patients achieve a durable response, typically lasting around ten months, indicating that the current benefit is modest. Dr. Prato argues that relying on conventional biomarkers such as microsatellite stability/instability and common mutations (KRAS, BRAF, EGFR, HER2) is insufficient. He advocates for a comprehensive, patient‑specific mapping of the immune system to rebuild immunity and achieve longer‑term cancer control, criticizing the one‑size‑fits‑all NCCN guidelines that are based on population data rather than individualized roadmaps.

Chapters

We've been using PD-1 inhibitors for over a decade, on and off label. They are limited in their benefit. 1 out of 5 patients may have a durable response according to Frontiers in Oncology, about 19% to be precise. But it only works for 10 months for most patients, so that's not the ticket. The ticket is to get a full picture of the immune system going beyond the microsatellite stability or instability or the mutation KRAS, BRAF, EGFR, HER2, and to rebuild the immune system for the patient so we have a chance of getting a longer-term response. That's the secret, in my opinion, to shutting cancer down so people can live a long and blessed life. It's seeing these roadmaps, shutting them all down, building the medicine on the patient with deep mapping, not just giving NCCN guidelines to everybody. Those are population health. Those were all done on large populations, not you.