Integrative genomic analysis identifies unique immune environments associated with immunotherapy response in diffuse large B cell lymphoma

Abstract

Most diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients treated with bispecific antibodies (BsAb) or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells fail to achieve durable treatment responses, underscoring the need for a deeper understanding of mechanisms that regulate the immune environment and response to treatment. Here, an integrative, multi-omic approach was employed to characterize DLBCL immune environments, which effectively segregated DLBCLs into four quadrants - termed DLBCL-immune quadrants (IQ) - defined by cell-of-origin and immune-related gene set expression scores. Recurrent genomic alterations were enriched in each IQ, suggesting that lymphoma cell-intrinsic alterations contribute to orchestrating unique DLBCL immune environments. In relapsed/refractory DLBCL patients, DLBCL-IQ assignment correlated significantly with clinical benefit with the CD20 x CD3 BsAb, mosunetuzumab, but not with CD19-directed CAR T cells. DLBCL-IQ provides a new framework to conceptualize the DLBCL immune landscape and uncovers the differential impact of the endogenous immune environment on outcomes to BsAb and CAR T cell treatment.