SITC cancer immunotherapy resource document: a compass in the land of biomarker discovery

Abstract

Since the publication of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s (SITC) original cancer immunotherapy biomarkers resource document, there have been remarkable breakthroughs in cancer immunotherapy, in particular the development and approval of immune checkpoint inhibitors, engineered cellular therapies, and tumor vaccines to unleash antitumor immune activity. The most notable feature of these breakthroughs is the achievement of durable clinical responses in some patients, enabling long-term survival. These durable responses have been noted in tumor types that were not previously considered immunotherapy-sensitive, suggesting that all patients with cancer may have the potential to benefit from immunotherapy. However, a persistent challenge in the field is the fact that only a minority of patients respond to immunotherapy, especially those therapies that rely on endogenous immune activation such as checkpoint inhibitors and vaccination due to the complex and heterogeneous immune escape mechanisms which can develop in each patient. Therefore, the development of robust biomarkers for each immunotherapy strategy, enabling rational patient selection and the design of precise combination therapies, is key for the continued success and improvement of immunotherapy. In this document, we summarize and update established biomarkers, guidelines, and regulatory considerations for clinical immune biomarker development, discuss well-known and novel technologies for biomarker discovery and validation, and provide tools and resources that can be used by the biomarker research community to facilitate the continued development of immuno-oncology and aid in the goal of durable responses in all patients.

WASF2 Serves as a Potential Biomarker and Therapeutic Target in Ovarian Cancer: A Pan-Cancer Analysis

“…Recently, an increasing number of studies have demonstrated that TMB and immune cell infiltration played a vital role in immunotherapy response across multiple cancer types ( 48 , 49 ). Previous studies showed that blood TMB can be used as a predictive biomarker in patients with non-small cell lung cancer and platinum-resistant recurrent ovarian cancer ( 50 , 51 ). In addition, some studies have found there was a significant negative correlation between TMB values and prognosis prediction performances ( 52 ).…”

Paving the Way for Immunotherapy in Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Current Knowledge and the Way Forward

“…Therefore, as physicians and scientists in the field of pediatric AML, we recognize the urgent need to initiate major immune characterization efforts. Meanwhile, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer's (SITC) has published a resource document on the use of immune profiling for different purposes [97]. In this resource document, the authors describe the discovery of biomarkers that are predictive of both response to immunotherapy and immune-related adverse effects.…”

Identification of Lactate-Related Gene Signature for Prediction of Progression and Immunotherapeutic Response in Skin Cutaneous Melanoma

“…Although collectively ICIs have a response rate of 30–40% ( 6 ), a majority of patients lack satisfactory clinical efficacies owing to the complex mechanisms underlying tumor immunity ( 7 ). Furthermore, several reported genomic and immune biomarkers indicate that the therapeutic effects are not targeted and there is an inevitable bias whilst evaluating the treatment efficacies ( 8 ). Thus, it is challenging but necessary to identify a better predictor to evaluate the clinical outcomes accurately before prescribing ICI treatment.…”