Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 23, 2025

Competing-Risk Nomogram for Predicting Cancer-Specific Survival in Multiple Primary Colorectal Cancer Patients after Surgery
Published on: September 27, 2024
The association between tumor mutational burden and prognosis is dependent on treatment context
Cristina Valero1,2,3, Mark Lee1,2,3, Douglas Hoen1,2,3
1Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
Abstract:
In multiple cancer types, high tumor mutational burden (TMB) is associated with longer survival after treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). The association of TMB with survival outside of the immunotherapy context is poorly understood. We analyzed 10,233 patients (80% non-ICI-treated, 20% ICI-treated) with 17 cancer types before/without ICI treatment or after ICI treatment. In non-ICI-treated patients, higher TMB (higher percentile within cancer type) was not associated with better prognosis; in fact, in many cancer types, higher TMB was associated with poorer survival, in contrast to ICI-treated patients in whom higher TMB was associated with longer survival.
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