NF1-Mutant Cancer and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: A Large Database Analysis

NF1 is a cancer-suppressor gene which negatively regulates MAPK pathway, and NF1 mutations have been reported in various cancers including non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). 1 Redig AJ Capelletti M Dahlberg SE et al. Clinical and molecular characteristics of NF1-mutant lung cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2016; 22: 3148-3156 Crossref PubMed Scopus (41) Google Scholar In the study by Bowman et al., 2 Bowman L Tiu R Smyth EN et al. Clinical characteristics, treatments, and concurrent mutations in non-small cell lung cancer patients with NF1 mutations. Clin Lung Cancer. 2021; 22 (e1): 32-41 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1) Google Scholar they demonstrated that patients with NSCLC with NF1 mutations could be regarded as a distinct clinical subset contrast to other mutation types, such as KRAS, EGFR, BRAF, ALK, and ROS1. Importantly, patients with NF1-mutant NSCLC were associated with inferior prognosis compared with the patients with other mutation types. Nevertheless, several patients with NSCLC with NF1 mutations responded to nivolumab treatment in their study. Therefore immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) may be consider as an option for this distinct clinical NSCLC subset. However, up to now, the relationship between NF1 mutations and the efficacy of ICIs in NSCLC has never been illustrated.