ctDNA-adjusted bTMB as a predictive biomarker for patients with NSCLC treated with PD-(L)1 inhibitors

BACKGROUND: In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), higher blood tumor mutational burden (bTMB) was usually associated with better progression-free survival (PFS) and objective response rate (ORR). However, the association between bTMB and overall survival (OS) benefit remains undefined. It has been reported that patients harboring a high level of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) had poor survival. We hypothesized that ctDNA-adjusted bTMB might predict OS benefit in NSCLC patients receiving ICIs. METHODS: Our study was retrospectively performed in three cohorts, including OAK and POPLAR cohort (n = 853), Shanghai and Wuhan (SH&WH) cohort (n = 44), and National Cancer Center (NCC) cohort (n = 47). Durable clinical benefit (DCB) was defined as PFS lasting ≥ 6 months. The cutoff value of ctDNA-adjusted bTMB for DCB prediction was calculated based on a receiver operating characteristic curve. Interaction between treatments and ctDNA-adjusted bTMB was assessed. RESULTS: The bTMB score was significantly associated with tumor burden, while no association was observed between ctDNA-adjusted bTMB with tumor burden. In the OAK and POPLAR cohort, significantly higher ORR (P = 0.020) and DCB (P < 0.001) were observed in patients with high ctDNA-adjusted bTMB than those with low ctDNA-adjusted bTMB. Importantly, the interactions between ctDNA-adjusted bTMB and treatments were significant for OS (interaction P = 0.019) and PFS (interaction P = 0.002). In the SH&WH cohort, the interactions between ctDNA-adjusted bTMB and treatment were marginally significant for OS (interaction P = 0.081) and PFS (interaction P = 0.062). Similar result was demonstrated in the NCC cohort. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicated that ctDNA-adjusted bTMB might predict OS benefit in NSCLC patients receiving ICIs. The potential of ctDNA-adjusted bTMB as a noninvasive predictor for immunotherapy should be confirmed in future studies. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12916-022-02360-x.