Researchers from Tempus partnered with University of California Irvine to study the immune biomarker environment and co-mutational landscape in TERT-mutated versus wild-type renal cell carcinoma. 

This study conducted the largest analysis to date of the molecular and immune landscape of TERT-mutated renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The analysis revealed that traditional immune biomarkers such as TMB and PD-L1 were not highly prevalent in RCC compared to Urothelial Carcinoma (UC), and their usefulness in clinical practice may be limited. In addition, the study found that TERT-altered tumors in UC displayed higher immune biomarker expression than TERT-wildtype tumors. These findings suggest that further investigation into TERT as a biomarker candidate is warranted.

This study was presented at the ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in January 2023.