Exploring Predictive Factors: Scientists Found Keys to Anticipate Response to Immunotherapy Treatment
In the ever-evolving fight against cancer, researchers are continually developing new treatment options, one of the latest being immunotherapy. However, it's important to note that not all people and cancers respond to immunotherapy. To address this mystery, researchers from Johns Hopkins University have made an intriguing discovery. They've identified a specific subset of mutations in a cancer tumor that hints at how receptive it will be to immunotherapy.
This breakthrough could revolutionize how doctors select patients for immunotherapy and could help predict the outcome from the treatment more accurately. The research, recently published in the journal Nature Medicine, has the potential to reshape the landscape of cancer treatment.
Immunotherapy is a treatment approach that utilizes the body's own immune system to fight off the disease. Normally, cancer cells develop mutations that help them hide from the immune system. Immunotherapy offers a boost to the immune system, enabling it to detect and destroy hidden cancer cells more effectively.
Currently, immunotherapy is used to treat various cancers such as breast cancer, melanoma, leukemia, and non-small cell lung cancer. Researchers are also exploring the potential use of immunotherapy for other cancers like prostate cancer, brain cancer, and ovarian cancer.
The Johns Hopkins team has discovered a unique subset of mutations they call "persistent mutations." These mutations remain present in the cancer cells, keeping them visible to the immune system, and aiding a better response to immunotherapy.
According to Dr. Valsamo Anagnostou, a senior author of the study and an associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins, the number of persistent mutations more accurately identifies tumors that are more likely to respond to immunotherapy compared to the overall tumor mutation burden.
Dr. Kim Margolin, a medical oncologist and medical director of the Saint John's Cancer Institute Melanoma Program, praises the study, stating that it goes beyond the simple concept of tumor mutation burden and defines persistent mutations in a new light. She suggests that persistent mutations and mutation-associated neo-antigens that are efficiently presented by the patient's own immune system could be the most important determinants of an effective anticancer immune response.
In the future, it's likely that advanced artificial intelligence and liquid biopsy techniques will be used to study patients' genomic instability and tumor DNA shedding patterns, enabling the categorization of patients by their likelihood of response to immunotherapy. Ultimately, these findings may pave the way for more personalized and effective cancer treatment.
- The discovery of a unique subset of mutations called "persistent mutations" by the Johns Hopkins team could lead to a more accurate selection of patients for immunotherapy.
- Immunotherapy, a treatment approach that utilizes the body's immune system, offers a boost to the immune system, enabling it to detect and destroy hidden cancer cells more effectively.
- By identifying the number of persistent mutations in a cancer tumor, researchers can more accurately predict which tumors are more likely to respond to immunotherapy, compared to the overall tumor mutation burden.
- With advanced artificial intelligence and liquid biopsy techniques, it's likely that in the future, patients will be categorized by their likelihood of response to immunotherapy, potentially paving the way for more personalized and effective cancer treatments.
