Stratification of melanoma patients for immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have revolutionized therapy for advanced cancer, however many patients still do not respond to treatment. However, the efficacy and effectiveness of these therapies varies greatly across individual patients and among different tumour types. A substantial unmet need is thus the development of biomarkers of response to ICI, in order to identify, before initiation of treatment, which patients are likely to experience a response to and clinical benefit from such treatments. Here, the inventors analyzed SPHK1 mRNA in tumor biospies by in situ hybridization using the RNAscope technology in a cohort of 22 patients suffering from metastatic melanoma. They showed that elevated expression of sphingosine kinase 1 (SK1), which produces the oncometabolite sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is associated with a poor survival in metastatic melanoma patients treated with to the well-known immune-checkpoint inhibitor anti-PD-1 antibody. Accordingly, the present invention relates to the use of SK1 as biomarker for predicting response to immune-checkpoint inhibitors.

Keywords: IHC, RT-PCR, Immunoassay, Transcriptomic, Treatment Response, Prognosis, Oncology, Solid Tumor, Melanoma ,
Patent Application number: 18 305 644.9

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