Tumor mutational burden (TMB) and response rates to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting PD-1, CTLA-4, and combination.

Authors

Arsen Osipov

Arsen Osipov

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of Oncology, Balimore, MD

Arsen Osipov , Aleksandra Popovic , Alexander Hopkins , Garrett M. Frampton , Lee A. Albacker , Nilofer Saba Azad , Daniel A. Laheru , Lei Zheng , Elizabeth M. Jaffee , Mark Yarchoan

Organizations

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of Oncology, Balimore, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD, Foundation Medicine, Inc., Cambridge, MA, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Research Funding

Other

Background: ICIs targeting PD-1/L1 and/or CTLA-4 have activity against many different cancers. We and others have previously shown that a higher TMB, a surrogate for an increased number of expressed tumor neoantigens, is an important biomarker for response to anti-PD-1/L1 monotherapy. Whether the relationship between the TMB and response to ICIs extends beyond anti-PD-1/L1 is unknown. Methods: We identified 30 major solid tumor types for which TMB has been described using a genomic profiling assay performed by Foundation Medicine. We conducted searches of MEDLINE (from Jan 1, 2010 to Jan 20, 2019), as well as abstracts presented at ASCO, ESMO, AACR Annual Meetings 2010-2018 to identify the objective response rate (ORR) for anti-PD-1/L1, anti-CTLA-4 and combination anti-PD-1/L1 plus anti-CTLA-4, in each of these cancer types. We pooled the response data from the largest published studies that evaluated the ORR. We excluded studies that; enrolled < 10 evaluable patients, investigated ICI therapies in combination with other agents, and studies that selected patients based on immune-related biomarkers. Across tumor types, median TMB was compared to ORR utilizing the coefficient of determination (r2) derived from simple linear regressions. Results: TMB is strongly associated with response to anti-PD-1/L1 monotherapy (n = 8798, r2= 0.4704, p < 0.001), and combination anti-PD-1/L1 plus anti-CTLA-4 (n = 2280,r2= 0.4082, p = 0.004). Available ORR data were more limited with CTLA-4 monotherapy and the relationship between ORR and TMB did not meet statistical significance (n = 1377, r2= 0.2606, p = 0.1086). The additional ORR benefit of adding a CTLA-4 inhibitor to anti-PD-1/PDL1 therapy increased with increasing TMB. In tumor types with a lower TMB ( < 10 mutations/MB), combined ICI therapy led to an average improvement of 5.5% in ORR over PD-1/L1 monotherapy, versus 21.8 % ORR improvement in high TMB tumors (≥10 mutations/MB). Conclusions: A strong relationship exists between TMB and clinical activity of both PD-1/L1 monotherapy and combination ICIs with PD-1/L1 plus CTLA-4. The clinical benefit of adding anti-CTLA-4 to anti-PD-1/L1 is greatest in high TMB tumors and limited in low TMB tumors.

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2019 ASCO Annual Meeting

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Developmental Immunotherapy and Tumor Immunobiology

Track

Developmental Therapeutics—Immunotherapy

Sub Track

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Citation

J Clin Oncol 37, 2019 (suppl; abstr 2578)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2019.37.15_suppl.2578

Abstract #

2578

Poster Bd #

222

Abstract Disclosures