Are we ready to use TMB in breast cancer clinical practice?

Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2020 Oct;69(10):1943-1945. doi: 10.1007/s00262-020-02682-w. Epub 2020 Jul 28.

Abstract

We discussed the potentialities of tumor mutation burden (TMB) as a predictive marker for immunotherapy in breast cancer, also highlighting the limits that have hindered its introduction in the clinical practice. Although some studies have demonstrated the possibility to select patients more responsive to immune-checkpoint inhibitors by evaluating TMB, some issues emerged regarding the complexity of the methodologies for its determination, the costs of the analysis, and the necessity to improve the TMB determination with that of neoantigen identification.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Immune-checkpoint inhibitors; PD-L1; TMB.

Publication types

  • Editorial

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics*
  • Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Breast Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Breast Neoplasms / immunology
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • DNA Mutational Analysis
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Molecular Targeted Therapy*
  • Mutation*
  • Prognosis

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Biomarkers, Tumor