Dr Abu Rous on the Identification of Clinically Actionable Biomarkers in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Lung

"We found an area in the long arm of chromosome 3 that was able to predict outcomes and even mediate responses to immunotherapy [in squamous cell carcinoma]. We’re still working on this project, but it looks very promising."

Fawzi F Abu Rous, MD, a thoracic medical oncologist at Henry Ford Health, discusses ongoing research addressing the need for biomarkers with potential clinical activity in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.

One ongoing area of unmet need in the treatment of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung is the development of reliable predictive biomarkers, Abu Rous began. Currently, PD-L1 expression and, to a lesser extent, tumor mutational burden (TMB) represent the most commonly used biomarkers in clinical practice, Abu Rous stated. However, both these biomarkers have limited predictive accuracy in squamous cell carcinoma, he noted. As a result, oncologists often lack precise tools to identify patients most likely to benefit from specific therapeutic approaches, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, Abu Rous explained.

To address this gap, Abu Rous and colleagues have conducted genomic analyses of squamous cell carcinoma tumor DNA. One such effort focused on the long arm of chromosome 3 (3q), a region frequently amplified in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, Abu Rous detailed. During his fellowship, Abu Rous and the research team conducted a genomic study in collaboration with bioinformaticians and molecular scientists to identify alterations in 3q that could serve as predictive biomarkers. Preliminary findings suggest that specific amplifications within this chromosomal region may correlate with both treatment response and survival outcomes in patients receiving immunotherapy, he shared.

Although this research remains ongoing, early results indicate that 3q amplification could represent a promising biomarker with potential clinical utility in squamous cell carcinoma, Abu Rous asserted. If validated, such a marker may enable better stratification of patients, guiding treatment intensification or de-escalation based on predicted benefit from immunotherapeutic strategies, he concluded.