Immunotherapy Outcomes Prediction: Scientists Discover Strategies to Forecast Results
Every year, scientists make strides in finding new treatments for cancer, and one of the latest is immunotherapy. Unfortunately, not everyone or every cancer can be treated with immunotherapy, but researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland have found a breakthrough. They've identified a specific subset of mutations within cancer tumors that indicate how receptive these tumors are to immunotherapy.
These researchers call these mutations "persistent mutations." Unlike regular mutations, persistent mutations are always present in cancer cells and continuously make the cancer visible to the body's immune system. This persistent visibility allows for a better response to immunotherapy, potentially leading to long-term tumor control and survival.
Doctors have been using the total number of mutations in a tumor, or Tumor Mutation Burden (TMB), to determine how well a tumor will respond to immunotherapy. However, the TMB doesn’t take into account the persistence of these mutations.
Immunotherapy is a treatment that boosts the immune system to fight the disease more effectively. It typically focuses on cancer cells that have developed mutations to hide from the immune system. By providing a boost to the body's immune system, it becomes easier to find and destroy these cancer cells. There are several types of immunotherapy currently in use, including checkpoint inhibitors, CAR T-cell therapy, and vaccines.
Currently, immunotherapy is used to treat breast cancer, melanoma, leukemia, and non-small cell lung cancer. Researchers are also investigating the use of immunotherapy for other types of cancer, such as prostate cancer, brain cancer, and ovarian cancer.
The findings of this study could help doctors more accurately select patients for immunotherapy and better predict its outcomes. It may also lead to a new era of personalized cancer treatments, where candidates for immunotherapy are selected based on the persistence of mutations in their specific cancer tumors.
In summary, persistent mutations in cancer tumors can suggest a positive response to immunotherapy. While a high TMB can also indicate a higher likelihood of success, persistent mutations may be a more reliable predictor of immunotherapy outcomes, potentially leading to better patient selection and more effective treatments.
- The persistent mutations identified by Johns Hopkins University researchers can make cancer cells more visible to the body's immune system, potentially leading to a better response to immunotherapy.
- Unlike the Tumor Mutation Burden (TMB), which only considers the number of mutations in a tumor, the persistence of these mutations may be a more reliable predictor of immunotherapy outcomes.
- This study could lead to a new era of personalized cancer treatments, where candidates for immunotherapy are selected based on the persistence of mutations in their specific cancer tumors.
- Immunotherapy, a treatment that boosts the immune system to fight disease more effectively, is currently used to treat several types of cancer, with researchers investigating its use for other types as well.
