Dr. Bauml on Emerging Biomarkers in NSCLC

Joshua Bauml, MD, assistant professor, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, discusses emerging biomarkers in non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

PD-L1, and more recently, tumor mutation burden are what physicians call “surrogate” biomarkers, says Bauml. They may indicate a response, but they are not a direct understanding of what is happening in the body or what is causing these therapies to work.

Gene expression profiling and T-cell exhaustion profiling are 2 emerging biomarkers that can change the way physicians use novel therapies. Gene expression profiling is looking at RNA expression of various genes. There has been accordance of this in PD-L1, says Bauml. It has the potential to be more indicative of response to immunotherapy than PD-L1 alone.

However, in the IMpower150 trial, researchers found that it was not much better than PD-L1 alone. T-cell exhaustion profiling is just beginning to gain exposure in the field. This evaluates certain features of the T cells.