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Cancer therapy

Using genetics to predict toxicity of cancer immunotherapy

Nature Medicine volume 28, pages 2471–2472 (2022)Cite this article

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A variant of the IL7 gene predicts the toxicity of checkpoint inhibitors in patients with cancer, via a mechanism shared with autoimmune diseases — which could inform biomarker and treatment strategies in both of these contexts.

Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are increasingly used to treat a variety of cancers and are highly effective in many patients; however, because they reactivate a patient’s immune system, they can also lead to a variety of potentially severe immune-related adverse events (irAEs)1. These irAEs can resemble autoimmune diseases such as Crohn’s disease-like ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes and vitiligoid skin depigmentation. In patients with cancer, specific irAEs have been shown to be associated with treatment response, for example vitiligo in those with melanoma2,3.

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Fig. 1: Impact of an IL7 variant on patients with cancer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncologic Medicine, Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France

    Caroline Robert

  2. INSERM U981, Gustave Roussy and Université Paris–Saclay, Villejuif, France

    Caroline Robert

  3. Institut Curie, Université Paris–Saclay, PSL Research University, CNRS UMR3348, INSERM U1278, Orsay, France

    Stéphan Vagner

  4. Department of Rheumatology, Université Paris–Saclay, INSERM UMR1184, Hôpital Bicêtre, FHU CARE (Cancer and Autoimmunity Relationships), Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris, Le Kremlin Bicêtre, France

    Xavier Mariette

Authors
  1. Caroline Robert
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  2. Stéphan Vagner
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  3. Xavier Mariette
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Correspondence to Caroline Robert.

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Competing interests

C.R. is an occasional consultant for Roche, BMS, MSD, Sanofi, AstraZeneca, Pierre Fabre, Novartis and scientific co-Founder of Ribonexus; S.V. is scientific co-founder of Ribonexus Xavier Mariette is an occasional consultant for AstraZeneca, Novartis, BMS, Galapagos, Pfizer, GSK.

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Robert, C., Vagner, S. & Mariette, X. Using genetics to predict toxicity of cancer immunotherapy. Nat Med 28, 2471–2472 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-02096-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-02096-4

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