Introduction

Listen to a blog summary of a trending research paper published by Oncotarget in Volume 13, entitled, "Real-world survival analysis by tumor mutational burden in non-small cell lung cancer: a multisite U.S. study." ___________________________________ While a high tumor mutational burden (TMB) may seem unfavorable in the midst of battling non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a higher TMB has been associated with a higher number of neoantigens. The presence of more neoantigens can potentially elicit a stronger immune response. Therefore, TMB may be a viable biomarker of tumor response to immunotherapeutic agents. However, the definitions, parameters and units used to measure high- and low-TMB have been inconsistent over the years. Today, the consensus unit for reporting TMB has shifted to mutations per megabase (mut/Mb). The common cut-off for high- vs. low-TMB from tissue samples is >10 mut/Mb in NSCLC. “Despite inconsistencies with TMB definition and reporting over time, high TMB has consistently been associated with improved clinical benefit among patients receiving immunotherapy for NSCLC [22].” Researchers—from University of Utah, University of Minnesota Duluth, Huntsman Cancer Institute, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Baptist Health Medical Group, MetroHealth Medical Center, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, University of Southern California, Saint Luke’s Cancer Institute, University of Kentucky, and Bristol Myers Squibb—used the newest consensus unit and common cut-off parameters for TMB expression to measure TMB’s relationship to treatment response and survival outcomes among metastatic NSCLC patients. Their trending research paper was published in Oncotarget’s Volume 13 on January 31, 2022, and entitled, “Real-world survival analysis by tumor mutational burden in non-small cell lung cancer: a multisite U.S. study.” “The purpose of this study is to evaluate clinical outcomes by TMB among NSCLC patients treated with immunotherapy containing regimens in the first-line setting.” Full blog - https://www.oncotarget.org/2022/04/21/trending-with-impact-analysis-of-mutational-burden-in-nsclc/ DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.28178 Correspondence to - Connor Willis - Connor.Willis@pharm.utah.edu Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://oncotarget.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Foncotarget.28178 Press release - https://www.oncotarget.com/news/pr/oncotarget-mutational-burden-in-lung-cancer-studied-in-multisite-cohort/ Keywords - lung neoplasma, tumor biomarkers, immunotherapy About Oncotarget Oncotarget is a peer-reviewed, open access biomedical journal covering research on all aspects of oncology. To learn more about Oncotarget, please visit https://www.oncotarget.com and connect with us: SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/oncotarget Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Oncotarget/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/oncotarget Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/oncotargetjrnl/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/OncotargetYouTube LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/oncotarget Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/oncotarget/ Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/user/Oncotarget/ Oncotarget is published by Impact Journals, LLC: https://www.ImpactJournals.com Media Contact MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM 18009220957