Predicting Immunotherapy Success: Researchers Discover Methods for Anticipating Outcomes
Immunotherapy is the latest weapon in the battle against cancer, but it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. Scientists from Johns Hopkins University might have found a way to improve the success rate of immunotherapy treatments.
Immunotherapy harnesses the immune system to fight cancer cells that have developed mutations, making them invisible to the body's defenses. But some cancer cells remain detectable, even with numerous mutations, thanks to a specific subset of persistent mutations.
Researchers refer to this group of persistent mutations as Tumor Mutation Burden (TMB). A high TMB allows cancer cells to be easily spotted by the immune system, setting the stage for an attack. The research team identified that persistent mutations, constantly present in cancer cells, keep them visible to the immune system, facilitating a better response to immunotherapy.
Johns Hopkins researchers believe that these findings will help doctors more accurately select individuals for immunotherapy and better predict treatment outcomes. Their study was recently published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Understanding Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is a technique that utilizes the body's own immune system to combat disease. Typically, cancer cells develop mutations, allowing them to bypass the immune system. Immunotherapy gives the immune system a boost, enabling it to find and eliminate cancer cells.
There are various types of immunotherapy, including anti-PD-1, anti-CTLA-4, and CAR T-cell therapy. They are currently used to treat breast cancer, melanoma, leukemia, and non-small cell lung cancer. Researchers are investigating the use of immunotherapy for other cancers like prostate cancer, brain cancer, and ovarian cancer.
The Role of Persistent Mutations
Currently, doctors estimate a tumor's likelihood of responding to immunotherapy based on its overall Tumor Mutation Burden (TMB). However, the researchers found that a subset of mutations within the TMB—which they termed "persistent mutations"—persist even as cancer evolves. This maintaining presence makes the cancer cells continuously visible to the immune system, leading to a stronger immune response.
The team identified that the number of persistent mutations better predicts which tumors will respond to immune checkpoint blockade therapy, providing doctors with a more accurate way of choosing patients for treatment and foreseeing treatment outcomes.
Pointing Towards the Future
Dr. Kim Margolin, a medical oncologist, applauded the research, stating that it moves beyond the basic concept of TMB and sheds light on persistent mutations, their correlation with neoantigens, and antigen presentation. She added that high-throughput, next-generation sequencing techniques could soon be used to categorize patients by their likelihood of responding to immunotherapy, opening the door for more personalized cancer treatment.
Immunotherapy, a medical-condition treatment, leverages the immune system to combat cancer cells, particularly those with mutations that render them invisible to the body's defenses. The researchers' discovery of persistent mutations, a specific subset of mutations present in cancer cells, has the potential to improve the success rate of immunotherapy by keeping these cells continuously visible to the immune system. This finding could lead to a more accurate patient selection for immunotherapy and better prediction of treatment outcomes in science.
