Immuno-Radiomics as a novel prognostic and predictive biomarker in malignant melanoma

Principal Investigators

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Keywords

MALIGNANT MELANOMA, CHECKPOINT-INHIBITORS, RADIOMICS, BIOMARKERS

Summary

Despite substantial improvements in the overall survival of metastatic melanoma patients from new immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), more than 50% of all patients fail to respond to treatment. Identifying predictive biomarkers for the response to ICI is challenging, and so far, only PD-L1 expression is clinically established, which is insufficient for patient stratification. This project aims to identify prognostic and predictive imaging biomarkers for treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic melanoma patients. We combine the expertise of the Levesque lab in identifying predictive molecular biomarkers for immunotherapy response in metastatic melanoma (Krieg et al., 2018) with the expertise of the Guckenberger & Tanadini-Lang group in quantitative radiomic biomarker research (Bogowicz et al., 2016). We plan to evaluate the potential of quantiative radiological image analyses – radiomics – to improve response assessment to ICI compared to current RECIST and iRECIST criteria and accurately predict response to ICI. The overall aim is to introduce a novel biomarker for response prediction and assessment of metastatic melanoma patients treated with ICI. This would be of tremendous relevance in other cancer types as well, where ICI is becoming a standard treatment option.

Related publications

Radiomics, Tumor Volume, and Blood Biomarkers for Early Prediction of Pseudoprogression in Patients with Metastatic Melanoma Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibition. Basler L, Gabryś HS, Hogan SA, Pavic M, Bogowicz M, Vuong D, Tanadini-Lang S, Förster R, Kudura K, Huellner MW, Dummer R, Guckenberger M, Levesque MP. Clin Cancer Res. 2020 Aug 15;26(16):4414-4425