Overlooked 'off switch' in lung tumors may explain why immunotherapy doesn't work for everyone

A Jackson Laboratory team publishing in Science used long-read RNA sequencing to identify thousands of previously unrecognized STAT2 splice variants in lung cancer. Intron-retaining STAT2 was associated with longer survival on the anti-PD-L1 drug atezolizumab, validated with data from two large clinical trials. The splicing signature could potentially identify patients likely to benefit from immunotherapy, and the team has filed a provisional patent to correct splicing errors and predict response (DOI: 10.1126/science.aea7156).