Treatment Method: Scientists Detect Strategies for Foreseeing Successful Immunotherapy Responses
In the battle against cancer, a groundbreaking treatment option called immunotherapy has been gaining traction. While this approach isn't suitable for every person and every type of cancer, researchers from Johns Hopkins University believe they've made a breakthrough in identifying specific tumor mutations that can hint at how responsive a tumor will be to immunotherapy.
Keen on finding the reasons behind immunotherapy's success, scientists have long been seeking answers. Now, researchers from Johns Hopkins University claim they've found a unique subset of mutations within a cancer tumor. This subset, coined "persistent mutations," are less likely to disappear as cancer evolves, allowing the cancer tumor to remain visible to the body's immune system and improving the response to immunotherapy.
When discussing the study, Dr. Valsamo Anagnostou, a senior author and associate professor at Johns Hopkins, explained, "Persistent mutations are always there in cancer cells and these mutations may render the cancer cells continuously visible to the immune system, eliciting an immune response that is further amplified in the context of immune checkpoint blockade, leading to sustained immunologic tumor control and long survival."
Previously, doctors relied on the total number of mutations in a tumor — called the tumor mutation burden (TMB) — to predict the receptiveness of a tumor to immunotherapy. However, Anagnostou's team found that the number of "persistent mutations" was a more effective predictor of response to immunotherapy.
Dr. Kim Margolin, a medical oncologist, was enthusiastic about the study's findings, stating, "Persistent mutations and mutation-associated neoantigens that are efficiently presented by the patient's own complement of class I and class II MHC molecules and recognized by the patient's own complement of antigen-specific CD8+ cytotoxic T cells, are likely the most important determinants of an effective anticancer immune response."
Margolin believes that in the near future, these findings will significantly impact how cancer patients are selected for immunotherapy, with high-throughput sequencing techniques being used to study patients' mutational spectrum and predict their likelihood of response to immunotherapy.
The research, recently published in Nature Medicine, reveals the importance of considering persistent mutations when selecting patients for immunotherapy and highlights the complex relationship between genetic mutations and immunotherapy's efficacy. As immunotherapy continues to evolve, personalized strategies based on tumor genetics are expected to play a crucial role in determining treatment success.
- In the complex relationship between genetic mutations and immunotherapy's efficacy, scientists have identified a unique subset of mutations within a cancer tumor, known as "persistent mutations."
- These persistent mutations, according to Dr. Kim Margolin, are likely the most important determinants of an effective anticancer immune response, with their presence predicting a higher likelihood of success in immunotherapy treatments.
- As immunotherapy continues to evolve, personalized treatment strategies based on tumor genetics, specifically focusing on persistent mutations, are expected to play a crucial role in selecting patients for immunotherapy, thanks to advancements in high-throughput sequencing techniques.
