Abstract IA20: Immunotherapy: Biomarkers and checkpoint blockade in NSCLC

Immunotherapy approaches targeting the PD-1 pathway have shown some clinical benefits in a fraction of patients with lung cancer, but expression of PD-L1 has proved to be an imperfect biomarker of efficacy. Recent studies have shown that tumor mutation burden (TMB) is also correlated with outcome and that it appears to be independent of PD-L1. TMB, however, only indirectly measures the number of neoantigenic peptides presented on tumor cell surface class I MHC, and predicted MHC matches may be an even better predictor of benefit. In addition, mutations in genes such as LKB1 may modulate the immune response, and mutations in the antigen presentation pathway may block it altogether. Mutations in DNA repair pathway genes may increase the number of potential neoantigens. Analysis of non-PD-1 pathway immunomodulators, immune cell infiltration, microenvironmental and microbiomic context, together with in-depth analysis of tumor somatic genomics, could lead to better patient selection for immunotherapy. Citation Format: David P. Carbone, Michael Sharpnack, Kai He. Immunotherapy: Biomarkers and checkpoint blockade in NSCLC [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Fifth AACR-IASLC International Joint Conference: Lung Cancer Translational Science from the Bench to the Clinic; Jan 8-11, 2018; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2018;24(17_Suppl):Abstract nr IA20.