Dr. Sumit Subudhi, M.D., Ph.D. of @MDAndersonNews answers if the markers are predictive of outcomes on immunotherapy with markers of immune activation in metastatic prostate cancer.
While metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) usually has minimal response to immunotherapy, in a Phase II trial at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, a subset of patients with pretreatment evidence of active T-cell responses in their tumors observed sustained survival following treatment with ipilimumab.
"Our results indicate that immune checkpoint blockade can instigate T-cell responses to tumor neoantigens despite a low tumor mutational burden in prostate cancer," said lead author Sumit Subudhi, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of Genitourinary Medical Oncology. "We found specific markers among a subset of patients with the greatest benefit, such as T-cell density and interferon-γ signaling, that may help improve our ability to select patients for treatment with checkpoint blockade."