Tumor Mutational Burden and Mismatch Repair Deficiency Discordance as a Mechanism of Immunotherapy Resistance

J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2021 Feb 2;19(2):130-133. doi: 10.6004/jnccn.2020.7680. Print 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Lynch syndrome is a heritable cancer syndrome caused by a heterozygous germline mutation in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes. MMR-deficient (dMMR) tumors are particularly sensitive to immune checkpoint inhibitors, an effect attributed to the higher mutation rate in these cancers. However, approximately 15% to 30% of patients with dMMR cancers do not respond to immunotherapy. This report describes 3 patients with Lynch syndrome who each had 2 primary malignancies: 1 with dMMR and a high tumor mutational burden (TMB), and 1 with dMMR but, unexpectedly, a low TMB. Two of these patients received immunotherapy for their TMB-low tumors but experienced no response. We have found that not all Lynch-associated dMMR tumors have a high TMB and propose that tumors with dMMR and TMB discordance may be resistant to immunotherapy. The possibility of dMMR/TMB discordance should be considered, particularly in less-typical Lynch cancers, in which TMB evaluation could guide the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors.

MeSH terms

  • Brain Neoplasms*
  • Colorectal Neoplasms*
  • Colorectal Neoplasms, Hereditary Nonpolyposis* / genetics
  • Colorectal Neoplasms, Hereditary Nonpolyposis* / therapy
  • DNA Mismatch Repair
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm*
  • Humans
  • Immunotherapy*
  • Microsatellite Instability
  • Neoplastic Syndromes, Hereditary*

Supplementary concepts

  • Turcot syndrome