On October 29, 2025 Caris Life Sciences (NASDAQ: CAI), a leading, patient-centric, next-generation AI TechBio company and precision medicine pioneer, reported collaborative new research identifying TET2 clonal hematopoiesis (CH) as a promising biomarker for improved response to immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy in patients with solid tumors. The study titled, `TET2-mutant clonal hematopoiesis enhances macrophage antigen presentation and improves immune checkpoint therapy in solid tumors,’ was led by Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D. at the James P. Allison Institute at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and published in Cancer Cell.
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The study’s purpose was to investigate how immune cells carrying CH-derived TET2 mutations influence solid tumor immunology and respond to ICI therapy. Dr. Sharma and Shelley Herbrich, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Sharma’s lab, explored the underlying mechanisms using TET2-mutant laboratory models, which revealed how these mutations shape immune dynamics within the tumor microenvironment.
To validate the clinical relevance of these findings, the study leveraged Caris Life Sciences’ extensive clinico-genomic database, analyzing outcomes in a real-world cohort of nearly 36,000 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and over 25,000 colorectal (CRC) cancer patients. This dual approach provided insight and large-scale evidence supporting TET2-CH as a potential biomarker for enhanced ICI response. Importantly, these findings represent a major observation that directly ties clonal hematopoiesis to therapy outcomes in solid tumors, suggesting a future role of CH for driving therapy selection.
"These findings represent a major step forward in understanding how clonal hematopoiesis influences cancer immunology," said Milan Radovich, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer at Caris. "It further demonstrates that we are only scratching the surface on the potential applications of CH, namely a novel function of CH as a predictive therapeutic biomarker that can be used to improve patient outcomes."
"These results are encouraging, highlighting TET2-mutated clonal hematopoiesis as a potential biomarker to select patients who are more likely to respond to immunotherapy," said Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Immunology and Genitourinary Medical Oncology at MD Anderson and director of scientific programs for the Allison Institute.
(Press release, Caris Life Sciences, OCT 29, 2025, View Source [SID1234657118])