Immunotherapy: Scientists discover methods to estimate treatment results
In the world of cancer treatment, immunotherapy is a new and exciting option. But not all cancers and people can benefit from it yet. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have made a breakthrough by identifying a particular subset of mutations in a tumor that could make it more responsive to immunotherapy.
This discovery, published in the journal Nature Medicine, could help doctors select patients more accurately for immunotherapy and better predict treatment outcomes.
Immunotherapy works by boosting the body's immune system to fight off cancer cells. Cancer cells develop mutations that help them hide from the immune system. Immunotherapy gives the immune system a much-needed boost and helps it find and destroy the cancer cells.
Immunotherapy is currently used to treat cancers like breast cancer, melanoma, leukemia, and non-small cell lung cancer. Scientists are also looking into whether it can be effective in treating other types of cancer, such as prostate cancer, brain cancer, and ovarian cancer.
In this study, the researchers found a specific subset of persistent mutations within the overall Tumor Mutation Burden (TMB). These mutations remain in the cancer cells and help keep the cancer tumor visible to the immune system, making it more receptive to immunotherapy.
"Persistent mutations may help clinicians more accurately select patients for clinical trials of novel immunotherapies or predict a patient's clinical outcome with standard-of-care immune checkpoint blockade," said lead author Dr. Valsamo Anagnostou.
Collaborating oncologists and experts welcome this study as it expands the understanding of how immunotherapy works and how it can be used to treat cancer more effectively. In the future, high-throughput, next-generation sequencing techniques may be used to identify patients most likely to respond to immunotherapy.
While the specific subset of KRAS mutations doesn't directly indicate tumor receptiveness to immunotherapy, research is being conducted to target these mutations to enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy. A vaccine is being developed that targets six common KRAS mutations in pancreatic cancer, which could hold great promise for both preventive and therapeutic applications in high-risk individuals.
- The breakthrough discovery at Johns Hopkins University involving a specific subset of mutations could aid doctors in accurately selecting patients for immunotherapy and predicting treatment outcomes, as published in the Nature Medicine journal.
- Immunotherapy, currently used for treating cancers like breast cancer, melanoma, leukemia, and non-small cell lung cancer, may also prove effective against other types, such as prostate cancer, brain cancer, and ovarian cancer.
- The persistent mutations found in the researchers' study, specifically a subset within the overall Tumor Mutation Burden (TMB), could make cancer tumors more receptive to immunotherapy, potentially leading to the development of new treatments and vaccines in the future.
