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Genomic determinants of cancer immunotherapy

Diana Miao1, Eliezer M Van Allen2

  • 1Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, United States; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, United States.

Current Opinion in Immunology
|June 3, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Cancer immunotherapies show promise, but response predictors are unclear. Genomic data, including whole-exome sequencing, can identify tumor antigens and patient signatures to personalize cancer vaccines and improve treatment outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Immunology
  • Genomics

Background:

  • Cancer immunotherapies like vaccines, cell transfer, oncolytic viruses, and checkpoint blockade offer durable responses in various cancers.
  • Predictors of response to these immunotherapies are not fully understood, limiting treatment optimization.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the role of genomic characterization in predicting cancer immunotherapy response.
  • To highlight the potential of identifying tumor-specific antigens for individualized therapeutic vaccine design.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing whole-exome sequencing to identify tumor-specific antigens.
  • Analyzing pre-treatment tumor mutational and gene expression signatures.
  • Integrating genomic, transcriptomic, and immunological data from patient cohorts.

Main Results:

  • Genomic characterization is crucial for advancing targeted therapies and immunotherapy.
  • Whole-exome sequencing can identify targets for personalized, highly immunogenic therapeutic vaccines.
  • Tumor mutational and gene expression signatures can predict patient response to immunotherapy.

Conclusions:

  • Harnessing multi-omic data from immunotherapy-treated patients is key to precision medicine in immuno-oncology.
  • Personalized therapeutic vaccines based on identified tumor antigens hold significant promise.
  • Predictive biomarkers are essential for optimizing patient selection and treatment efficacy.

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