High Tumor Mutational Burden

Higher mutational burden was linked to shorter time to first treatment in untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia independently of other genomic events, according to an abstract presented at ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition.

The FDA approved a second biomarker-based indication for the anti-PD-1 therapy pembrolizumab.

The programmed death-1 receptor and its programmed death ligand-1 are key components of an immune checkpoint that has now been successfully targeted in several malignancies. Antibodies directed against PD-1 (pembrolizumab and nivolumab) as well as PD-L1 (atezolizumab and durvalumab) are now approved in a number of malignancies, including non-small cell lung cancer. Of these, only pembrolizumab treatment is contingent upon verification of PD-L1 expression.

BARCELONA — Blood-based tumor mutational burden measured using circulating tumor DNA appeared associated with outcomes after first-line treatment with pembrolizumab-based therapy for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, according to study results presented at International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer World Conference on Lung Cancer.

BARCELONA — Tumor mutational burden did not appear significantly correlated with the effectiveness of chemotherapy alone or with pembrolizumab as first-line treatment for metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer, according to results from an exploratory analysis of KEYNOTE-021 presented at International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer World Conference on Lung Cancer.