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Journal ArticleDOI

Association between Smoking History and Tumor Mutation Burden in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

02 Mar 2021-Cancer Research (American Association for Cancer Research (AACR))-Vol. 81, Iss: 9, pp 2566-2573
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the relationship between smoking history and clinically relevant mutations in non-small cell lung cancer, revealing the potential of smoking history as a surrogate for tumor mutation burden.
Abstract: Lung carcinogenesis is a complex and stepwise process involving accumulation of genetic mutations in signaling and oncogenic pathways via interactions with environmental factors and host susceptibility. Tobacco exposure is the leading cause of lung cancer, but its relationship to clinically relevant mutations and the composite tumor mutation burden (TMB) has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we investigated the dose-response relationship in a retrospective observational study of 931 patients treated for advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) between April 2013 and February 2020 at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Doubling smoking pack-years was associated with increased KRASG12C and less frequent EGFRdel19 and EGFRL858R mutations, whereas doubling smoking-free months was associated with more frequent EGFRL858R . In advanced lung adenocarcinoma, doubling smoking pack-years was associated with an increase in TMB, whereas doubling smoking-free months was associated with a decrease in TMB, after controlling for age, gender, and stage. There is a significant dose-response association of smoking history with genetic alterations in cancer-related pathways and TMB in advanced lung adenocarcinoma. SIGNIFICANCE: This study clarifies the relationship between smoking history and clinically relevant mutations in non-small cell lung cancer, revealing the potential of smoking history as a surrogate for tumor mutation burden.
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the potential application of tumor neoantigen burden (TNB) as a biomarker for immunotherapy and other types of therapy was evaluated and the mechanisms involved in TNB were investigated.
Abstract: Immunotherapy has significantly improved the clinical outcome of patients with cancer. However, the immune response rate varies greatly, possibly due to lack of effective biomarkers that can be used to distinguish responders from non-responders. Recently, clinical studies have associated high tumor neoantigen burden (TNB) with improved outcomes in patients treated with immunotherapy. Therefore, TNB has emerged as a biomarker for immunotherapy and other types of therapy. In the present review, the potential application of TNB as a biomarker was evaluated. The methods of neoantigen prediction were summarized and the mechanisms involved in TNB were investigated. The impact of high TNB and increased number of infiltrating immune cells on the efficacy of immunotherapy was also addressed. Finally, the future challenges of TNB were discussed.

32 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Martha Dillon1, Antonio Lopez1, Edward Lin1, Dominic Sales1, Ron Perets1, Pooja Jain1 
10 Oct 2021-Cancers
TL;DR: In this article, a literature review of the mechanisms of Ras signaling in the MAPK pathway and its possible oncogenic mutations, illustrate how specific mutations affect the pathogenesis of specific cancers, and compare available and in-development treatments targeting the Ras pathway.
Abstract: The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, consisting of the Ras-Raf-MEK-ERK signaling cascade, regulates genes that control cellular development, differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis. Within the cascade, multiple isoforms of Ras and Raf each display differences in functionality, efficiency, and, critically, oncogenic potential. According to the NCI, over 30% of all human cancers are driven by Ras genes. This dysfunctional signaling is implicated in a wide variety of leukemias and solid tumors, both with and without viral etiology. Due to the strong evidence of Ras-Raf involvement in tumorigenesis, many have attempted to target the cascade to treat these malignancies. Decades of unsuccessful experimentation had deemed Ras undruggable, but recently, the approval of Sotorasib as the first ever KRas inhibitor represents a monumental breakthrough. This advancement is not without novel challenges. As a G12C mutant-specific drug, it also represents the issue of drug target specificity within Ras pathway; not only do many drugs only affect single mutational profiles, with few pan-inhibitor exceptions, tumor genetic heterogeneity may give rise to drug-resistant profiles. Furthermore, significant challenges in targeting downstream Raf, especially the BRaf isoform, lie in the paradoxical activation of wild-type BRaf by BRaf mutant inhibitors. This literature review will delineate the mechanisms of Ras signaling in the MAPK pathway and its possible oncogenic mutations, illustrate how specific mutations affect the pathogenesis of specific cancers, and compare available and in-development treatments targeting the Ras pathway.

22 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a study was conducted on 644 advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with ICI monotherapy between April 2013 and September 2020 at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Abstract: BACKGROUND Despite the therapeutic efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in a subset of patients, consistent and easily obtainable predictors of efficacy remain elusive. METHODS This study was conducted on 644 advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with ICI monotherapy between April 2013 and September 2020 at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Patient smoking history, clinicopathological characteristics, tumor mutation burden (TMB) by clinical targeted next generation sequencing, and PD-L1 tumor proportion score (TPS) by immunohistochemistry were prospectively collected. The association of smoking history with clinical outcomes of ICI monotherapy in metastatic NSCLC patients was evaluated after adjusting for other potential predictors. All statistical tests were 2-sided. RESULTS Of 644 advanced NSCLC patients 105 (16.3%) were never smokers, 375 (58.2%) were former smokers (median pack-years = 28), and 164 (25.4%) were current smokers (median pack-years = 40). Multivariable logistic and Cox proportional hazards regression analyses suggested that doubling of smoking pack-years is statistically significantly associated with improved clinical outcomes of patients treated with ICI monotherapy (objective response rate odds ratio = 1.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.09-1.36, P < .001; progression-free survival hazard ratio = 0.92, 95% CI = 0.88-0.95, P < .001; overall survival hazard ratio = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.90-0.99, P = .01). Predictive models incorporating pack-years and PD-L1 TPS yielded additional information and achieved similar model performance compared to using TMB and PD-L1 TPS. CONCLUSIONS Increased smoking exposure had a statistically significant association with improved clinical outcomes in metastatic NSCLC treated with ICI monotherapy independent of PD-L1 TPS. Pack-years may serve as a consistent and readily obtainable surrogate of ICI efficacy when TMB is not available to inform prompt clinical decisions and allow more patients to benefit from ICIs.

20 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In the first-line setting, immunotherapy has been a thriving concept that revolutionized treatment options in multiple malignancies, rendering previously untreatable diseases potentially curable as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) remains a poorly understood disease with aggressive features, high relapse rates, and significant morbidity as well as mortality, yet persistently limited treatment options. For three decades, the treatment algorithm of SCLC has been stagnant despite multiple attempts to find alternative therapeutic options that could improve responses and increase survival rates. On the other hand, immunotherapy has been a thriving concept that revolutionized treatment options in multiple malignancies, rendering previously untreatable diseases potentially curable. In extensive stage SCLC, immunotherapy significantly altered the course of disease and is now part of the treatment algorithm in the first-line setting. Nevertheless, the important questions that arise are how best to implement immunotherapy, who would benefit the most, and finally, how to enhance responses.

8 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An R Bioconductor package, Maftools, is described, which offers a multitude of analysis and visualization modules that are commonly used in cancer genomic studies, including driver gene identification, pathway, signature, enrichment, and association analyses, and is independent of larger alignment files.
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Journal ArticleDOI
26 Jan 2012-Nature
TL;DR: The sequenced primary tumour and relapse genomes from eight AML patients and validated hundreds of somatic mutations using deep sequencing demonstrated that AML relapse is associated with the addition of new mutations and clonal evolution, which is shaped by the chemotherapy that the patients receive to establish and maintain remissions.
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Journal ArticleDOI
05 Apr 2018-Cell
TL;DR: This work charted the detailed landscape of pathway alterations in 33 cancer types, stratified into 64 subtypes, and identified patterns of co-occurrence and mutual exclusivity.

1,841 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Two classes of simple alternatives that can be implemented with any regression software: fractional polynomial regression and spline regression are described, illustrated in a problem of estimating historical trends in human immunodeficiency virus incidence.
Abstract: Standard categorical analysis is based on an unrealistic model for dose-response and trends and does not make efficient use of within-category information This paper describes two classes of simple alternatives that can be implemented with any regression software: fractional polynomial regression and spline regression These methods are illustrated in a problem of estimating historical trends in human immunodeficiency virus incidence Fractional polynomial and spline regression are especially valuable when important nonlinearities are anticipated and software for more general nonparametric regression approaches is not available

1,024 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
14 Sep 2012-Cell
TL;DR: Cell-cycle and JAK-STAT pathways are significantly altered in lung cancer, along with perturbations in 54 genes that are potentially targetable with currently available drugs, including ROS1 and ALK, as well as novel metabolic enzymes.

1,021 citations

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