Dr. Duval on the Use of MSI-H as a Biomarker of Response in Patients With Cancer

Video

Alex Duval, MD, PhD, discusses the use of microsatellite instability–high as a biomarker of response to therapy in patients with cancer.

Alex Duval, MD, PhD, professor of molecular oncology, director, Instability of Microsatellites and Cancer team, Saint-Antoine Research Center, French Institute of Health and Medical Research, discusses the use of microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) as a biomarker of response to therapy in patients with cancer.

​As a biomarker of response, MSI-H can influence ​and guide clinical treatment decisions, says Duval. Moreover, MSI status may be the first indication that giving immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors is warranted in a particular patient.

Currently, using MSI status to inform immunotherapy initiation is commonly used in the metastatic setting. However, this concept will likely be applied to the non-metastatic to inform response other drugs such as chemotherapy.

Notably, this applies to a host of therapies, including chemotherapy. For example, it is now understood that patients ​with gastric cancer who are MSI-H will not ​respond to chemotherapy, Duval concludes.

Related Videos
Shivaani Kummar, MBBS, FACP, Margaret and Lester DeArmond Endowed Chair of Cancer Research, Professor and Division Head, Division of Hematology/Medical Oncology, Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine; co-director, Center for Experimental Therapeutics, co-deputy director, Knight Cancer Institute
Andre Goy, MD
Wenxin (Vincent) Xu, MD,
Guenther Koehne, MD, PhD
Alessandro Villa, DDS, PhD, MPH
Joseph Mikhael, MD
Michael Richardson, MD
Minesh Mehta, MD
Ruben Olivares, MD
Phillip J. Koo, MD