The FDA approval of immune checkpoint inhibitors for cancers with tumor mutation burden (TMB) of at least 10 mut/Mb is postulated to reduce healthcare disparities by broadly expanding treatment eligibility. In a cohort of 39,400 patients with available genomic and race data, black and Asian patients were less likely to have TMB-high cancers in multiple types of malignancies based on the currently approved cut-off. Decreasing TMB thresholds preferentially increased the eligibility of minority patients for immune checkpoint inhibitors while retaining predictive value of treatment benefit in a cohort of immune checkpoint inhibitor treated patients. This study highlights differing distributions of TMB-high cancers between racial groups and provides guidance in developing more rational eligibility criteria for immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Keywords: immunotherapy; tumor biomarkers.
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