GCC Distinguished Cancer Scholar, Professor and Director, Cancer Biology Program, Department of OB/GYN, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Ga 30310
New research from investigators at the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has shown that immunotherapy is two-and-a-half times more effective in tumors that have mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations. The researchers made the discovery after creating mutations in parts of the mtDNA, a finding that provides a new pathway to help determine which patients will see the most benefit from immunotherapies. “Cancer is a disease of our own bodies. Because cancer cells can look similar to healthy cells on the outside, getting our immune systems to recognize and destroy cancer cells is a complicated task, said co-lead author Payam Gammage, PhD, group leader at the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute and the University of Glasgow. “More than half of cancers have mutations in their mitochondrial DNA. But when we engineered these mutations in the lab, we found that tumors which have the most mutated mitochondrial DNA are far more sensitive to immunotherapy. This research, published Monday in the journal Nature Cancer, demonstrates for the first time a direct link between mtDNA mutations and a patient’s response to cancer treatments. The team showed that tumors identified with high levels of mtDNA mutations treated with the immunotherapy nivolumab were up to two-and-a-half times more likely to respond to the drug than those with lower levels. Nivolumab is currently approved for treatment in a range of cancer types including melanoma, lung cancer, liver cancer, and bowel cancer. #immunotherapy #effective #mitochondria-defective