In our recent study just published in Cancer Immunology Research, we identified Tumor-Associated Antigen (TAA) burden as a key biomarker for predicting the success of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy in cancer patients who lack traditional markers like PD-L1 and tumor mutation burden (TMB). By developing a novel algorithm to quantify TAA burden, we discovered that patients with high TAA burden, especially those with low T-cell exhaustion, showed significantly better responses to ICB therapy. This finding is particularly crucial for patients who are negative for PD-L1 and TMB, offering new hope for those who otherwise have limited access to immunotherapy.
Our research focused on various cancer types, including urothelial carcinoma and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC), where we observed that TAA burden could effectively identify patients likely to benefit from ICB, even when other markers do not predict a response. This study challenges the traditional view that TAAs are not associated with ICB response and highlights the potential of TAA burden as a critical tool in personalized cancer immunotherapy.
