Somatic HLA Class I Loss Is a Widespread Mechanism of Immune Evasion Which Refines the Use of Tumor Mutational Burden as a Biomarker of Checkpoint Inibitor Response

Neoantigen presentation arises as a result of tumor-specific mutations and is a critical component of immune surveillance that can be abrogated by somatic LOH of the human leukocyte antigen class I (HLA-I) locus. To understand the role of HLA-I LOH in oncogenesis and treatment, we utilized a pan-cancer genomic dataset of 83,644 patient samples, a small subset of which had treatment outcomes with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). HLA-I LOH was common (17%) and unexpectedly had a nonlinear relationship with tumor mutational burden (TMB). HLA-I LOH was frequent at intermediate TMB, yet prevalence decreased above 30 mutations/megabase, suggesting highly mutated tumors require alternate immune evasion mechanisms. In ICI-treated patients with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer, HLA-I LOH was a significant negative predictor of overall survival. Survival prediction improved when combined with TMB, suggesting TMB with HLA-I LOH may better identify patients likely to benefit from ICIs. SIGNIFICANCE: This work shows the pan-cancer landscape of HLA-I LOH, revealing an unexpected Goldilocks relationship between HLA-I LOH and TMB, and demonstrates HLA-I LOH as a significant negative predictor of outcomes after ICI treatment. These data informed a combined predictor of outcomes after ICI and have implications for tumor vaccine development.

Automated summary

The study uncovers the pan-cancer landscape of HLA-I LOH, showing an unexpected relationship between HLA-I LOH and TMB, and demonstrating HLA-I LOH as a significant negative predictor of outcomes after ICI treatment. These findings inform a combined predictor of outcomes after ICI and have implications for tumor vaccine development.