Predicting clinical benefit of immunotherapy by antigenic or functional mutations affecting tumour immunogenicity

Nat Commun. 2020 Feb 19;11(1):951. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14562-z.

Abstract

Neoantigen burden is regarded as a fundamental determinant of response to immunotherapy. However, its predictive value remains in question because some tumours with high neoantigen load show resistance. Here, we investigate our patient cohort together with a public cohort by our algorithms for the modelling of peptide-MHC binding and inter-cohort genomic prediction of therapeutic resistance. We first attempt to predict MHC-binding peptides at high accuracy with convolutional neural networks. Our prediction outperforms previous methods in > 70% of test cases. We then develop a classifier that can predict resistance from functional mutations. The predictive genes are involved in immune response and EGFR signalling, whereas their mutation patterns reflect positive selection. When integrated with our neoantigen profiling, these anti-immunogenic mutations reveal higher predictive power than known resistance factors. Our results suggest that the clinical benefit of immunotherapy can be determined by neoantigens that induce immunity and functional mutations that facilitate immune evasion.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Antigens, Neoplasm / genetics*
  • Antigens, Neoplasm / immunology
  • Antigens, Neoplasm / metabolism
  • Cohort Studies
  • ErbB Receptors / genetics
  • ErbB Receptors / immunology
  • Genome, Human / genetics
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Immune Evasion / genetics
  • Immune Evasion / immunology
  • Immunotherapy
  • Mutation
  • Neoplasms / genetics
  • Neoplasms / immunology*
  • Neoplasms / pathology
  • Neoplasms / therapy*
  • Neural Networks, Computer
  • Peptide Fragments / metabolism
  • Protein Binding

Substances

  • Antigens, Neoplasm
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class I
  • Peptide Fragments
  • EGFR protein, human
  • ErbB Receptors