Establishment of biomarkers for predicting therapeutic response to immune checkpoint inhibitors

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K16945
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 52010:General internal medicine-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Amemiya Takahiro 東京大学, 医学部附属病院, 助教 (20778617)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: がん / 免疫チェックポイント阻害剤 / 治療応答性 / 個別化医療

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Stratification based on tumor tissue assessment alone is currently insufficient to accurately predict therapeutic response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Here, we showed that serum protein involved in the regulation of the immune system was elevated before the start of treatment in successful cases of patients on immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy and decreased during the treatment-resistant phase. Our findings suggested that the concentration of that protein is a biomarker for predicting therapeutic response to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Free Research Field

臨床薬理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

患者血清中の免疫系の制御に関わるタンパク質濃度が免疫チェックポイント阻害剤に対する治療応答性を予測するバイオマーカーとなり得る可能性を示し、臨床医学の観点から意義の大きい成果が得られた。本研究により、真にベネフィットの得られる患者に対して薬剤を適用する個別化医療に貢献しうるものと考えられ、治療成績の向上に資するのみならず、無効な治療に伴う副作用リスクの回避や患者の経済的負担の軽減などにも役立つことが期待される。