Five Factors Guide Immunotherapy Success

In work published in Nature Genetics, the Biomedical Genomics group at IRB Barcelona—led by Dr. Núria López-Bigas with co-senior author Dr. Abel González-Pérez—has analysed multi-omic and clinical data from >1,400 patients to uncover five independent variables that together classify response to checkpoint-blockade immunotherapy: tumour mutational burden, effective T-cell infiltration, TGF-β activity, prior treatments and tumour proliferative potential. They tested this model in six other patient groups—covering lung, colon and skin cancers—and it held up.

By combining these variables into one framework, the model offers a way to simplify many existing biomarkers. It could help avoid unnecessary side effects in patients unlikely to respond, while also pointing to new cancer types that might benefit from immunotherapy.

More information: Five key factors predict the response of cancer patients to immunotherapy