scholarly journals The Promising Link Among Tumor Mutational Burden, Immune-Related Adverse Events, and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors Efficacy in SCLC

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 100080
Author(s):  
Alessio Cortellini
Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 3625
Author(s):  
Boris Duchemann ◽  
Jordi Remon ◽  
Marie Naigeon ◽  
Laura Mezquita ◽  
Roberto Ferrara ◽  
...  

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are now a cornerstone of treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Tissue-based assays, such as Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-L1) expression or mismatch repair deficiency/microsatellite instability (MMRD/MSI) status, are approved as treatment drivers in various settings, and represent the main field of research in biomarkers for immunotherapy. Nonetheless, responses have been observed in patients with negative PD-L1 or low tumor mutational burden. Some aspects of biomarker use remain poorly understood and sub-optimal, in particular tumoral heterogeneity, time-evolving sampling, and the ability to detect patients who are unlikely to respond. Moreover, tumor biopsies offer little insight into the host’s immune status. Circulating biomarkers offer an alternative non-invasive solution to address these pitfalls. Here, we summarize current knowledge on circulating biomarkers while using liquid biopsies in patients with lung cancer who receive treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, in terms of their potential as being predictive of outcome as well as their role in monitoring ongoing treatment. We address host biomarkers, notably circulating immune cells and soluble systemic immune and inflammatory markers, and also review tumor markers, including blood-based tumor mutational burden, circulating tumor cells, and circulating tumor DNA. Technical requirements are discussed along with the current limitations that are associated with these promising biomarkers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e14266-e14266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sacha Rothschild ◽  
Ilaria Alborelli ◽  
Katharina Leonards ◽  
Laura P Leuenberger ◽  
Spasenija Savic Prince ◽  
...  

e14266 Background: In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) significantly improve overall survival (OS). Tumor mutational burden (TMB) has emerged as a predictive biomarker for patients treated with ICIs. Here we evaluated the predictive power of TMB measured through / by the Oncomine Tumor Mutational Load (TML - Thermo Fisher Scientific) targeted sequencing assay in 71 NSCLC patients treated with ICIs. Methods: TMB was assessed retrospectively in 71 metastatic NSCLC patients receiving ICI therapy. Clinical data (RECIST 1.1) were collected and patients were characterized as either having durable clinical benefit (DCB) or no durable benefit (NDB). Additionally, genetic alterations and PD-L1 expression were assessed and compared with TMB and response rate. Results: TMB was significantly higher in patients with DCB compared to patients with NDB (median TMB = 9.2 versus 5.3 mutations/Mb, Mann-Whitney p = 0.014). 70% of patients with high TMB (cutoff = 3rd tertile, TMB ≥ 9.2) were responders (DCB) compared to 29% of patients with low TMB (cutoff = 1st tertile, TMB ≤ 4.5). TMB-high patients showed significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS) and OS (log rank test, p = .0030 for PFS and 0 .0375 for OS, respectively). Combining PD-L1 expression and TMB value increased the predictive power of TMB. Conclusions: Our results show that the TML panel is an effective tool to stratify patients for ICI treatment. We believe that a combination of biomarkers will maximize the precision of patient selection.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-133
Author(s):  
Agata A. Bielska ◽  
Walid K. Chatila ◽  
Henry Walch ◽  
Nikolaus Schultz ◽  
Zsofia K. Stadler ◽  
...  

Lynch syndrome is a heritable cancer syndrome caused by a heterozygous germline mutation in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes. MMR-deficient (dMMR) tumors are particularly sensitive to immune checkpoint inhibitors, an effect attributed to the higher mutation rate in these cancers. However, approximately 15% to 30% of patients with dMMR cancers do not respond to immunotherapy. This report describes 3 patients with Lynch syndrome who each had 2 primary malignancies: 1 with dMMR and a high tumor mutational burden (TMB), and 1 with dMMR but, unexpectedly, a low TMB. Two of these patients received immunotherapy for their TMB-low tumors but experienced no response. We have found that not all Lynch-associated dMMR tumors have a high TMB and propose that tumors with dMMR and TMB discordance may be resistant to immunotherapy. The possibility of dMMR/TMB discordance should be considered, particularly in less-typical Lynch cancers, in which TMB evaluation could guide the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors.


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