1
|
Zhang Y, Wang D, Zhao Z, Peng R, Han Y, Li J, Zhang R. Enhancing the quality of panel-based tumor mutation burden assessment: a comprehensive study of real-world and in-silico outcomes. NPJ Precis Oncol 2024; 8:18. [PMID: 38263314 PMCID: PMC10805867 DOI: 10.1038/s41698-024-00504-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Accepted: 01/04/2024] [Indexed: 01/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Targeted panel-based tumor mutation burden (TMB) assays are widely employed to guide immunotherapy for patients with solid tumors. However, the accuracy and consistency of this method can be compromised due to the variability in technical details across different laboratories, particularly in terms of panel size, somatic mutation detection and TMB calculation rules. Currently, systematic evaluations of the impact of these technical factors on existing assays and best practice recommendations remain lacking. We assessed the performance of 50 participating panel-based TMB assays involving 38 unique methods using cell line samples. In silico experiments utilizing TCGA MC3 datasets were performed to further dissect the impact of technical factors. Here we show that the panel sizes beyond 1.04 Mb and 389 genes are necessary for the basic discrete accuracy, as determined by over 40,000 synthetic panels. The somatic mutation detection should maintain a reciprocal gap of recall and precision less than 0.179 for reliable psTMB calculation results. The inclusion of synonymous, nonsense and hotspot mutations could enhance the accuracy of panel-based TMB assay. A 5% variant allele frequency cut-off is suitable for TMB assays using tumor samples with at least 20% tumor purity. In conclusion, this multicenter study elucidates the major technical factors as sources of variability in panel-based TMB assays and proposed comprehensive recommendations for the enhancement of accuracy and consistency. These findings will assist clinical laboratories in optimizing the methodological details through bioinformatic experiments to enhance the reliability of panel-based methods.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuanfeng Zhang
- National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing Hospital/National Center of Gerontology, Beijing, PR China
- National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, PR China
- Beijing Engineering Research Center of Laboratory Medicine, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, PR China
| | - Duo Wang
- National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing Hospital/National Center of Gerontology, Beijing, PR China
- National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, PR China
- Beijing Engineering Research Center of Laboratory Medicine, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, PR China
| | - Zihong Zhao
- National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing Hospital/National Center of Gerontology, Beijing, PR China
- Beijing Engineering Research Center of Laboratory Medicine, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, PR China
- Peking University Fifth School of Clinical Medicine, Beijing, PR China
| | - Rongxue Peng
- National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing Hospital/National Center of Gerontology, Beijing, PR China
- National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, PR China
- Beijing Engineering Research Center of Laboratory Medicine, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, PR China
| | - Yanxi Han
- National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing Hospital/National Center of Gerontology, Beijing, PR China
- National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, PR China
- Beijing Engineering Research Center of Laboratory Medicine, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, PR China
| | - Jinming Li
- National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing Hospital/National Center of Gerontology, Beijing, PR China.
- National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, PR China.
- Beijing Engineering Research Center of Laboratory Medicine, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, PR China.
| | - Rui Zhang
- National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing Hospital/National Center of Gerontology, Beijing, PR China.
- National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, PR China.
- Beijing Engineering Research Center of Laboratory Medicine, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, PR China.
| |
Collapse
|