Subscribe to RSS
![](/products/assets/desktop/img/oa-logo.png)
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1727990
The Potential of DNA Methylation of Immune Checkpoint Genes as Predictive Biomarker for Immunotherapies
The success of immunotherapies with monoclonal therapeutic antibodies targeting PD-1 recently resulted in the regulatory approval for treatment of recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC). However, only a portion of patients responds to this immune checkpoint blockade while non-responding patients could benefit from chemotherapy or targeted therapy instead. This results in a high clinical need for predictive biomarkers which allow for the preceding identification of patients who are likely to respond in order to adapt the therapy accordingly. DNA methylation of CpG-dinucleotides is an epigenetic mechanism which plays a fundamental role within various processes, e.g. carcinogenesis and differentiation. We performed a detailed analysis of DNA methylation of the immune checkpoint genes PD-1, PD-L1, PD-L2, and CTLA-4 in HNSCC. Depending on the sequence context of the analyzed CpG we found significant correlations and associations with gene expression, immune cell infiltrates, human papillomavirus (HPV) status, mutational load, overall survival, and progression-free survival in patients treated with anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade. DNA methylation of immune checkpoint genes therefore represents a promising candidate for the development of predictive biomarkers for immunotherapies.
Poster-PDF A-1302.pdf
#
Conflict of interest
Der Erstautor gibt keinen Interessenskonflikt an.
Address for correspondence
Publication History
Article published online:
13 May 2021
© 2021. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany