Immunotherapy Outcomes Prediction: Scientists Discover Strategies to Forecast Responses
In the battle against cancer, immunotherapy has emerged as a revolutionary treatment option. But, not all individuals or cancers are suitable for this cutting-edge approach. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have made a significant breakthrough by pinpointing a group of mutations in cancer tumors that suggest its receptivity to immunotherapy.
This groundbreaking discovery could pave the way for doctors to more accurately select patients for immunotherapy and predict its outcomes more accurately. The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Immunotherapy essentially leverages the body's immune system to combat disease. Typically, cancer cells develop mutations that allow them to evade the immune system. Immunotherapy boosts the immune system, helping it identify and destroy these nefarious cells more effectively.
Currently, immunotherapy is used to treat cancers like breast cancer, melanoma, leukemia, and non-small cell lung cancer. Scientists are also exploring its potential for other types of cancer, such as prostate, brain, and ovarian cancer.
Doctors currently use the total number of mutations in a tumor, called the Tumor Mutation Burden (TMB), to estimate a tumor's response to immunotherapy. However, Johns Hopkins' researchers identified a specific subset of mutations within the overall TMB dubbed "persistent mutations". These mutations continue to exist as the cancer evolves, allowing the tumor to remain visible to the immune system and enhancing the response to immunotherapy.
According to the study's lead author, Dr. Valsamo Anagnostou, researchers from Johns Hopkins "identified persistent mutations that may render the cancer cells continuously visible to the immune system, eliciting an ongoing immune response, which is augmented in the context of immune checkpoint blockade and the immune system continues to eliminate cancer cells harboring these persistent mutations over time, resulting in sustained immunologic tumor control and long survival."
These findings may fundamentally change how cancer patients are selected for immunotherapy in the future. High-throughput, next-generation sequencing techniques could be used to categorize patients according to their likelihood of response to immunotherapy. In the long run,These persistent mutations could potentially transform from mere prognostic indicators into predictive factors that interact with therapy and disease, revolutionizing cancer treatment.
- Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have found a group of mutations in cancer tumors that could make patients more suitable for immunotherapy.
- These "persistent mutations" continue to exist as the cancer evolves, making the tumor more visible to the immune system.
- With these mutations, there is an ongoing immune response that is augmented during immune checkpoint blockade.
- The immune system continues to eliminate cancer cells harboring these persistent mutations over time, leading to sustained immunologic tumor control and long survival.
- High-throughput, next-generation sequencing techniques could be used to categorize patients according to their likelihood of response to immunotherapy.
- In the future, these persistent mutations may transform from mere prognostic indicators into predictive factors that interact with therapy and disease, revolutionizing cancer treatment in the field of health-and-wellness.
