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Updated: Feb 21, 2026

Monitoring the Cancer-Immunity Cycle and Exploring Tumor Microenvironment Dynamics
Published on: June 7, 2024
Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Underutilize Immune Response Monitoring
Claire M Connell1,2, Sophie E M Raby1, Ian Beh1
1Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Immune-related radiological and biomarker monitoring in cancer immunotherapy trials permits interrogation of efficacy and reasons for therapeutic failure. We report the results from a cross-sectional analysis of response monitoring in 685 T-cell checkpoint-targeted cancer immunotherapy trials in solid malignancies, as registered on the U.S. National Institutes of Health trial registry by October 2016. Immune-related radiological response criteria were registered for only 25% of clinical trials. Only 38% of trials registered an exploratory immunological biomarker, and registration of immunological biomarkers has decreased over the last 15 years. We suggest that increasing the utilization of immune-related response monitoring across cancer immunotherapy trials will improve analysis of outcomes and facilitate translational efforts to extend the benefit of immunotherapy to a greater proportion of patients with cancer.
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