The association between tumor mutational burden and prognosis is dependent on treatment context

A high tumor mutational burden (TMB) is associated with improved immunotherapy response in many tumor types. This analysis of 10,233 individuals shows that, in contrast, high TMB is associated with poorer survival in patients that have not been treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. In multiple cancer types, high tumor mutational burden (TMB) is associated with longer survival after treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). The association of TMB with survival outside of the immunotherapy context is poorly understood. We analyzed 10,233 patients (80% non-ICI-treated, 20% ICI-treated) with 17 cancer types before/without ICI treatment or after ICI treatment. In non-ICI-treated patients, higher TMB (higher percentile within cancer type) was not associated with better prognosis; in fact, in many cancer types, higher TMB was associated with poorer survival, in contrast to ICI-treated patients in whom higher TMB was associated with longer survival.

Automated summary

High tumor mutational burden (TMB) is associated with improved immunotherapy response, but may lead to poorer survival in patients who have not been treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.