Predictive Approaches in Immunotherapy: Scientists Discover Methods to Forecast Treatment Results
The latest frontier in cancer treatment is immunotherapy, but not every cancer or person can benefit from it. Scientists at Johns Hopkins University have identified a particular set of mutations in cancer tumors that may indicate a tumor's responsiveness to immunotherapy.
The researchers believe their findings will help doctors tailor immunotherapy treatment to patients, potentially improving outcomes. The study, published in Nature Medicine, reveals a specific subset of mutations within a tumor's overall mutation count, which they call "persistent mutations." These mutations help the cancer tumor remain visible to the immune system, resulting in a better response to immunotherapy.
Immunotherapy harnesses the power of the immune system to combat cancer. Typically, cancer cells develop protective mutations that allow them to evade the immune system. Immunotherapy gives the immune system a helpful boost, making it easier to locate and destroy cancer cells. There are multiple types of immunotherapy, such as checkpoint inhibitors, adoptive cell transfer, cytokine therapy, and vaccines, with ongoing research to explore additional possibilities, such as using immunotherapy for prostate, brain, and ovarian cancer.
Doctors currently consider the overall number of mutations in a tumor, referred to as the tumor mutational burden (TMB), to determine a cancer's responsiveness to immunotherapy. Researcher Dr. Valsamo Anagnostou explains that TMB is the number of changes in the genetic material of cancer cells. Generally, a large number of mutations makes cancer cells more distinguishable from normal cells, allowing the immune system to identify and attack tumors, leading to more extended outcomes with immunotherapy.
However, the study conducted by Anagnostou and her team focuses on specific, persistent mutations within the overall TMB. These mutations may yield anti-cancer neoantigens, which the immune system can recognize and neutralize. Persistent mutations remain in cancer cells, making the tumor continuously visible to the immune system, enhancing the immune system's response to immunotherapy and causing cancer cells that carry these persistent mutations to be gradually eliminated, leading to long-term survival.
The researchers believe that the number of persistent mutations may help clinicians more accurately select patients for immunotherapy trials or predict a patient's outcomes with standard-of-care immune checkpoint blockade. The emphasison persistent mutations could revolutionize cancer patient care and may pave the way for the development of more effective immunotherapy treatments.
- The study conducted by Anagnostou and her team reveals that a specific subset of persistent mutations within a tumor's overall mutation count, known as "persistent mutations," can help the cancer tumor remain visible to the immune system, leading to a better response to immunotherapy.
- The persistent mutations may yield anti-cancer neoantigens, which the immune system can recognize and neutralize, causing cancer cells that carry these persistent mutations to be gradually eliminated, leading to long-term survival.
- The researchers propose that the number of persistent mutations may help clinicians more accurately select patients for immunotherapy trials or predict a patient's outcomes with standard-of-care immune checkpoint blockade.
- The emphasis on persistent mutations, as presented in the study published in Nature Medicine, could revolutionize cancer patient care and may pave the way for the development of more effective immunotherapy treatments in the field of medical-conditions like cancer, health-and-wellness, and therapies-and-treatments.
