Scientists at Columbia University and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have found that individuals with certain specific genes responded better to cancer immunotherapy drugs. The work was published last week in Science.
The genes in question are part of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system, which is responsible for generating proteins to help the immune system recognize cells that are foreign to the body.
"Some HLA genes have hundreds of different versions; however there previously was little understanding of the relationship between an individual's HLA composition and response to checkpoint inhibitors," says Nayer Rizvi, M.D.
Looking at data from 1,535 cancer patients treated with checkpoint inhibitor drugs, the researchers found that patients who had more versions of HLA genes responded better to the cancer treatment, while those with not many versions and fewer tumor mutations responded not as well.
"The relationship between HLA and outcomes to immune checkpoint inhibitors is important for many reasons. It is another piece of the immunotherapy puzzle—who responds and why. It also may be relevant for understanding side effects observed with immunotherapy, and this is an area we are currently exploring," Rizvi says.
Image: New drugs can help the immune system attack cancer, but the drugs' effectiveness depends on the patient's genetic makeup, a study from Columbia University Medical Center has found. Image courtesy of the National Institutes of Health.