Research theme 09
Immuno-Oncology & Response Biomarkers
Immunotherapy-associated biomarkers and their interpretation limits across cancer types and clinical contexts.
Proposed research direction A direction KPCIRC proposes to explore. Not yet an established programme.
Biomarkers such as tumour mutational burden, microsatellite instability or mismatch-repair status, PD-L1 and HLA-related findings are used in immunotherapy discussions, but their meaning depends on the assay, the scoring method and the tumour type. This theme proposes research into consistent, honest interpretation.
Questions of interest
- How do TMB values compare across different panels and thresholds?
- When is a PD-L1 score appropriate to discuss for a given tumour and setting?
- How should missing or inferred biomarker values be reported?
Approaches
- Assay-aware biomarker comparison
- Tumour-specific threshold curation
- Clear separation of measured and inferred values
Limitations
- A biomarker alone does not predict that a patient will benefit from immunotherapy.
- Cut-offs should not be transferred across assays or tumour types without evidence.
Projects and outputs
No verified projects or publications are listed for this theme yet.