Liu et al. report data from the largest sequencing analysis of tumour material from patients with metastatic melanoma receiving immune-checkpoint inhibitors. These data confirm the correlations between baseline immune infiltrate and treatment response, but also demonstrate inconsistent associations of tumour mutational burden, specific gene mutations and previously described gene expression patterns with clinical outcomes.
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J.J.L. has served on the data and safety monitoring board of TTC Oncology. He has acted as a scientific advisory of 7 Hills, Actym, Alphamab Oncology, Mavu (now part of AbbVie), Pyxis, Springbank, and Tempest. He has acted as a consultant of Abbvie, Akrevia, Algios, Array, Astellas, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eisai, EMD Serono, Ideaya, Incyte, Janssen, Merck, Mersana, Novartis, RefleXion, Silicon, Tesaro and Vividion. He has received research support (all to his institution for clinical trials unless noted) from AbbVie, Agios (IIT), Array (IIT), Astellas, Boston Biomedical, Bristol–Myers Squibb, CheckMate (SRA), Compugen, Corvus, EMD Serono, Evelo (SRA), Five Prime, FLX Bio, Genentech, Immatics, Immunocore, Incyte, Leap, Macrogenics, MedImmune, Merck, Necktar, Novartis, Palleon (SRA), Springbank, Tesaro, Tizona and Xencor. He has received travel support from Akrevia, Bayer, Bristol–Myers Squibb, EMD Serono, Incyte, Janssen, Merck, Mersana, Novartis, Pyxis and RefleXion. He declares two provisionalpatent applications: serial #15/612,657 (Cancer Immunotherapy), and PCT/US18/36052 (Microbiome Biomarkers for Anti-PD-1/PD-L1 Responsiveness: Diagnostic, Prognostic and Therapeutic Uses Thereof). P.A.A. has acted as a consultant and/or advisor of 4SC, Alkermes, Array, AstraZeneca, Bristol–Myers Squibb, Genmab, Incyte, Idera, Immunocore, Medimmune, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Merck Serono, NewLink Genetics, Novartis, Pierre Fabre, Roche-Genentech, Sandoz, Sanofi, SunPharma, Syndax and Ultimovacs. He has received research funding from Array, Bristol Myers–Squibb and Roche-Genentech. He has received travel support from Merck Sharp & Dohme.
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Luke, J.J., Ascierto, P.A. Biology confirmed but biomarkers elusive in melanoma immunotherapy. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 17, 198–199 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-020-0328-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-020-0328-8
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