Sun Shengbo, Liu Lanchun, Zhang Jingkang, Sun Liting, Shu Wenlong, Yang Zhengyang, Yao Hongwei, Zhang Zhongtao
Department of General Surgery, State Key Lab of Digestive Health, National Clinical Research Center for Digestive Diseases, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
J Hematol Oncol. 2025 Sep 2;18(1):84. doi: 10.1186/s13045-025-01732-z.
Cancer immunotherapy has revolutionized oncology by leveraging the immune system to combat tumors. Among various biomarkers, neoantigens and tumor mutational burden (TMB) have emerged as critical factors in tailoring personalized treatments. Neoantigens are tumor-specific peptides displayed on cancer cell surfaces, derived from somatic mutations. Recognized as "non-self" by the immune system, they trigger T-cell responses and enable therapies like personalized vaccines and adoptive T-cell transfer. Critically, neoantigen potential correlates with TMB, which quantifies the total somatic mutations within a tumor genome. A higher TMB generally correlates with a greater likelihood of generating immunogenic neoantigens, making it a predictive biomarker for the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). Progress in high-throughput sequencing, bioinformatics, and immuno-peptidomics has significantly enhanced the accuracy of neoantigen prediction, including assessments of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) binding affinity and T-cell receptor recognition. Clinically, neoantigen-based therapies have shown efficacy in early trials, with strategies such as mRNA vaccines demonstrating synergy with ICI by boosting T-cell activation and overcoming immune suppression. Combining neoantigen-based therapies with chemotherapy and radiotherapy harnesses synergistic mechanisms to enhance efficacy, overcome resistance, and emerge as a pivotal oncology research focus. The integration of TMB into clinical practice has received regulatory approval as a biomarker for stratifying patients for ICI therapies. Furthermore, advanced methodologies like liquid biopsy and single-cell technologies have streamlined TMB measurement, improving its predictive value for personalized immunotherapy. Collectively, neoantigens and TMB have optimized the evolution of precision immuno-oncology by providing frameworks that maximize therapeutic efficacy, overcome resistance mechanisms, and advance durable cancer remission..
癌症免疫疗法通过利用免疫系统对抗肿瘤,彻底改变了肿瘤学。在各种生物标志物中,新抗原和肿瘤突变负荷(TMB)已成为定制个性化治疗的关键因素。新抗原是癌细胞表面展示的肿瘤特异性肽,源自体细胞突变。它们被免疫系统识别为“非自身”,触发T细胞反应,并使个性化疫苗和过继性T细胞转移等疗法成为可能。至关重要的是,新抗原潜力与TMB相关,TMB量化肿瘤基因组内的总体体细胞突变。较高的TMB通常与产生免疫原性新抗原的可能性更大相关,使其成为免疫检查点抑制剂(ICI)疗效的预测生物标志物。高通量测序、生物信息学和免疫肽组学的进展显著提高了新抗原预测的准确性,包括对主要组织相容性复合体(MHC)结合亲和力和T细胞受体识别的评估。在临床上,基于新抗原的疗法在早期试验中已显示出疗效,mRNA疫苗等策略通过增强T细胞活化和克服免疫抑制,与ICI显示出协同作用。将基于新抗原的疗法与化疗和放疗相结合,利用协同机制提高疗效、克服耐药性,并成为肿瘤学研究的一个关键重点。TMB纳入临床实践已获得监管批准,作为ICI疗法患者分层的生物标志物。此外,液体活检和单细胞技术等先进方法简化了TMB测量,提高了其对个性化免疫治疗的预测价值。总体而言,新抗原和TMB通过提供最大化治疗疗效、克服耐药机制并推动持久癌症缓解的框架,优化了精准免疫肿瘤学的发展。