Identifying patients who could potentially respond to immunotherapy Wednesday, October 10, 2018 A new trial, Nivolumab, Ipilimumab in Patients With Hyper Mutated Cancers Detected in Blood (NIMBLe) will soon open at centers in the US and Canada. Trial researchers will initially explore the use of non-invasive approaches to confirm POLE and POLD1 mutations in solid tumors and to investigate whether those tumors are responsive to immunotherapy. Responses and improved survival from treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors have been observed in many types of tumors. However, not all patients benefit and biomarkers capable of better predicting how a patient will respond to immunotherapy are needed. POLE and POLD1 gene mutations have a high mutational burden, which is believed to cause tumors to appear more abnormal to the immune system. This means that cancers with this type of mutation may be more likely to be targeted by the immune system following treatment with immunotherapy. Researchers involved in the study believe that these mutations can be detected in the blood. Read more
