The association between tumor mutational burden and prognosis is dependent on treatment context

Cristina Valero, Mark Lee, Douglas Hoen, Jingming Wang, Zaineb Nadeem, Neal Patel, Michael A. Postow, Alexander N. Shoushtari, George Plitas, Vinod P. Balachandran, J. Joshua Smith, Aimee M. Crago, Kara C. Long Roche, Daniel W. Kelly, Robert M. Samstein, Satshil Rana, Ian Ganly, Richard J. Wong, A. Ari Hakimi, Michael F. BergerAhmet Zehir, David B. Solit, Marc Ladanyi, Nadeem Riaz, Timothy A. Chan, Venkatraman E. Seshan, Luc G.T. Morris

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

192 Scopus citations

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)11-15
Number of pages5
JournalNature Genetics
Volume53
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2021
Externally publishedYes

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