The authors confirm the challenges of differentiating somatic from germline mutations with tumor-only sequencing resulting in higher TMB measurements. This was particularly pronounced in patients with Asian/African ancestry. In addition, this bias translated into a lack of clinical benefit in patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with ICIs whose tumors were misclassified as TMB-high from tumor-only panels.
This important study highlights the importance of Ancestry-aware tumor-only TMB calibration. It also highlights the challenges of relying on tumor-only sequencing. The authors acknowledge that differences in biomarker performance by ancestry can be caused by various social and environmental confounding factors for which ancestry is merely a proxy. Higher inclusivity in biomarker and clinical studies is needed to ensure that existing disparities are not exacerbated in precision medicine strategies.
Written by: Bishoy M. Faltas, MD, Director of Bladder Cancer Research, Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York City, New York
References:
- Nassar AH, Adib E, Abou Alaiwi S, et al. Ancestry-driven recalibration of tumor mutational burden and disparate clinical outcomes in response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Cancer Cell. 2022 Sep 6:S1535-6108(22)00386-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2022.08.022.