Cancer Immunology and Immunogenomics: Stratification of Benefit from Immunotherapy in Breast Cancer

Dr. Mariam Al-Muftah’s research team is involved in understanding cancer immunology to enhance cancer immunotherapy outcome. Much progress has been made in the past decades in discovering and approving immune checkpoint inhibitor agents as cancer immunotherapies, nevertheless a limited subset of patients responds. Single biomarkers have shown limitations in predicting response to immunotherapy and capturing the complexity of the tumor microenvironment. One of the areas Dr. Al-Muftah’s team is focused on is the identification and validation of gene/immune signature as biomarkers. Alongside other well-established biomarkers, for the classification of patients’ eligibility in terms of deriving benefit from cancer immunotherapy, with particular focus on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). The use of immunotherapy (anti-PD-L1) for the treatment of metastatic TNBC has recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and this cancer shows relatively higher prevalence in the Middle East, imposing a high burden and challenge on the healthcare systems. This translational research team aims to provide valuable knowledge for precision medicine to overcome the challenges associated with the immunologic treatment of TNBC that can enhance clinical practice and improve patients’ survival.