The following is a summary of “TIGIT+ NK cells in combination with specific gut microbiota features predict response to checkpoint inhibitor therapy in melanoma patients,” published in the October 2023 issue of Oncology by Tsakmaklis et al.
In a prospective, non-interventional study, researchers aimed to understand the association between specific intestinal microbiota profiles and the antitumor immune response in melanoma patients undergoing immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy (anti-PD-1 and/or anti-CTLA-4). The study included 29 cutaneous melanoma patients who received ICI therapy, and blood and stool samples were analyzed alongside functional and phenotypical immune assessments using 12-color flow cytometry and FluoroSpot assays. Shotgun metagenomics sequencing was employed to analyze the gut microbiome, and the Random Forest algorithm was utilized to integrate clinical, microbiome, and immune variables.
Results from the analysis of 29 patients showed that 51.7% (n = 15) achieved a durable clinical benefit. Notably, the immune receptor TIGIT exhibited significant upregulation in T cells (p = 0.0139) and CD56high NK cells (p = 0.0037) among responders. Various bacterial taxa, such as Ruminococcus torques and Barnesiella intestinihominis, were associated with response or failure to immune therapy. A combination of two microbiome features (Barnesiella intestinihominis and the Enterobacteriaceae family) and one immune feature (TIGIT+ CD56high NK cells) demonstrated the ability to predict response to ICI at baseline with an AUC of 0.85 (95% CI: 0.841–0.853).
These findings reaffirm the connection between intestinal microbiota and ICI therapy response in melanoma patients, highlighting TIGIT as a promising target for future immunotherapies.
Source: bmccancer.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12885-023-11551-5
