Immunotherapy Outcomes Prediction: Scientists Discover Methods to Forecast Responses
Rewritten Article
Every year, scientists are pushing the boundaries in the fight against cancer with innovative treatment options. One such promising approach is immunotherapy. But not all people and cancers respond positively to this treatment. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University, in Maryland, have recently uncovered a novel insight that could revolutionize the way we select cancer patients for immunotherapy and predict its effectiveness.
Immunotherapy leverages the power of the body's immune system to combat cancer. Typically, cancer cells develop mutations that help them evade detection by the immune system. Immunotherapy enhances the immune system's ability to find and destroy cancer cells.
There are multiple types of immunotherapy currently being used for treating diverse cancers like breast cancer, melanoma, leukemia, and non-small cell lung cancer. Researchers are also exploring its potential for other types such as prostate cancer, brain cancer, and ovarian cancer.
Currently, doctors estimate the receptiveness of a tumor to immunotherapy by looking at the total number of mutations in a tumor, known as tumor mutation burden (TMB). However, Johns Hopkins researchers have delved deeper and identified a specific subset of mutations, termed "persistent mutations," which are less likely to disappear as the cancer evolves. This ongoing presence of these mutations keeps the cancer tumor visible to the immune system, allowing a stronger response to immunotherapy.
According to these researchers, the number of persistent mutations holds much promise in selecting patients for clinical trials of new immunotherapies and predicting the clinical outcome of standard-of-care immune checkpoint blockade.
Medical News Today also spoke with Dr. Kim Margolin, a medical oncologist, about the study. They highlighted that persistent mutations and mutation-associated neo-antigens are likely the critical determinants of an effective anti-cancer immune response amplified by current immunotherapeutic agents.
In the near future, it's expected that high-throughput, next-generation sequencing techniques could be used to study patients' mutational spectrum, categorizing them based on their likelihood of responding to immunotherapy or benefiting from other treatments. Ultimately, this could lead to more personalized cancer treatment strategies.
While the search results do not specifically mention Johns Hopkins researchers identifying markers like Mismatch Repair Deficiency (dMMR), High Microsatellite Instability (MSI-H), and High Tumor Mutational Burden (TMB-H), it is common for studies in prestigious institutions like Johns Hopkins to focus on these and other genetic markers to assess tumor receptivity to immunotherapy. To get specific details about the research by Johns Hopkins researchers, it would be necessary to consult their published studies or press releases directly.
- The study from Johns Hopkins University suggests that a specific subset of mutations called "persistent mutations" could be a critical determinant for an effective anti-cancer immune response in patients undergoing immunotherapy.
- Researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified these persistent mutations as less likely to disappear as the cancer evolves, keeping the tumor visible to the immune system and enhancing the response to immunotherapy.
- The number of persistent mutations in a patient's tumor may hold significant promise in selecting patients for clinical trials of new immunotherapies and predicting the clinical outcome of standard-of-care immune checkpoint blockade.
- In the future, high-throughput, next-generation sequencing techniques could potentially be used to study patients' mutational spectrum, allowing for more personalized treatment strategies in health-and-wellness, such as therapies-and-treatments like immunotherapy for various medical-conditions including cancer.
