The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer perspective on liquid biopsy- and radiomics-based technologies for Immuno-oncology biomarker discovery and application

Abstract

Immuno-oncology is increasingly becoming the standard of care for cancers, with the identification of biomarkers that reliably classify immune checkpoint inhibitor response, resistance, and toxicity becoming the next frontier toward improvements in immunomodulatory treatment regimens. Recent advances in multiparametric, multiomics, and computational data platforms generating an unprecedented depth of data may assist in the discovery of increasingly robust biomarkers for enhanced patient selection and more personalized or longitudinal treatment approaches. Which emerging technologies to implement in future research and clinical settings, used alone or in combination, relies on weighing the pros and cons that aid in maximizing data outputs while minimizing patient sampling, with high reproducibility and representativeness, and minimal turnaround time and data fragmentation toward later private and public dataset harmonization strategies. The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Biomarkers Committee convened to identify important advances in biomarker technologies and highlight advances in biomarker discovery using liquid biopsy and in vivo imaging technologies. We address advances in liquid biopsy technologies monitoring cells, proteins, nucleic acids, antibodies, and drugs or analytes and radiomics technologies monitoring whole host-level imaging methods, including immuno-PET and MRI technologies, which are able to couple biomarkers with physical location. We include a summary of key metrics obtained by these technologies and their ease of interpretation, limitations and dependencies, technical improvements, and outward comparisons. By highlighting some of the most interesting recent examples contributed by these technologies and providing examples of improved outputs, we hope to guide correlative research directions and assist in their becoming clinically useful in immuno-oncology.