DR-170 Combining somatic alterations in intergenic, intronic and exonic regions to improve tumor mutational burden estimation by targeted sequencing.

Purpose: To develop an algorithm for robust estimation of the tumor mutational burden (TMB) using targeted sequencing. Data: Somatic analyses data DNA (SNVs, INDELs, SVs, Copy-numbers, MSI+/- etc) from the ~4000 metastatic cases available in the Hartwig Medical Database including the 2,520 cases recently published in Nature (P. Priestley et al. Nature, 2019). Clinical and outcomes data from the patients in the Hartwig Medical Database that have been treated with immunotherapy.Relevance for patient: Immunotherapy, that is, reactivation of the patient’s own immune system to kill the cancer cells, has revolutionized treatment of advanced cancer of various origins. However, robust estimation of TMB by targeted sequencing is crucial to accurately identify patients with an elevated TMB that may benefit from immunotherapy.

Johan Lindberg Karolinska Instutet Sweden