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. 2023 Mar 28;16:31. doi: 10.1186/s13045-023-01425-5

Table 5.

Association of APOBEC3 expression and APOBEC3-induced mutations with clinical outcomes by cancer type

Cancer type APOBEC3(s)* Outcome type Immunotherapy context? Clinical outcome References
Adrenal 3B Adverse No Shorter overall and disease-free survival [44]
Bladder 3B Positive No Longer survival with APOBEC3B-enhancing SNP (rs101497) [61]
Mutation burden Positive No Longer survival in muscle-invasive disease cohort [170]
Mutation burden Positive No Longer survival [46]
3D and 3H Positive No Better overall survival [171]
3B Adverse No Shorter progression-free survival with mutagenic A3B1 isoform [1]
Mutation burden Adverse No Higher risk of class 2a tumors and poor outcomes for non-muscle invasive disease [172]
3A and 3B Adverse No Increased risk of class 2a tumors [173]
Mutation burden Positive Yes Longer survival overall and better response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy [160]
Mutation burden Positive Yes Increased responsiveness to immunotherapy [174]
Breast 3A Adverse No Advanced tumor stage, higher histological grade, and more lymph node involvement [64]
3A Adverse No Shorter overall survival [175]
3B Adverse No Higher tumor grade with lymph node involvement and worse prognosis [105]
3B Adverse No Higher nuclear grade and more frequent lymph node metastasis [176]
3B Adverse No Shorter disease-free, metastasis-free, and overall survival. Lower overall survival in ER+ subgroup [177]
3B Adverse No Shorter survival in ER+ but not ER- group [161]
3B Adverse No Lower recurrence-free survival in a combined analysis and ER+ subgroup [178]
3A/B Adverse No Higher histological grade with 3A/B chimera [64]
3A-H Mixed No Aggressive pathology and shorter survival (3A and 3B). Improved survival (3C-H) [48]
3B Mixed No Shorter replace-free, metastasis-free, and overall survival (mRNA). Increased disease-free survival (protein) [165]
3B Mixed No Higher nuclear grade and Ki-67 labeling index, but improved responsiveness to neoadjuvant chemotherapy [179]
Mutation burden Adverse (overall) Yes Shorter survival with first-line endocrine and CDK4/6i therapy, but improved response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy [180]
Positive (immunotherapy)
Mutation burden Positive Yes Improved response to immunotherapy [181]
Esophageal 3B Adverse/none No Higher histological grade [39]
Gastric 3B Adverse (overall) No Shorter overall and progression-free survival, but improved response to fluorouracil-based adjuvant chemotherapy and PD-1 blockade therapy [37]
Positive (immunotherapy) Yes
3B Adverse No Aggressive pathology and poor survival [38]
Glioma 3B, 3C, 3D, 3F, 3G, 3H Adverse No Poor prognosis, especially in the low-grade subtype [51]
Head and neck Mutation burden Positive Yes Improved responsiveness to immunotherapy [174]
Lung 3B Adverse No Shorter survival [182]
3B Adverse No Shorter disease-free and overall survival with more with lymph node involvement and higher TNM stage [183]
3B Adverse No Shorter overall survival [175]
Mutation burden Adverse No Worse overall survival [184]
Mutation burden Adverse No Signature 2 (but not 13) burden associated with poor prognosis [185]
3B None No No association with pathological features or clinical outcomes [54]
Mutation burden Positive Yes Increased response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy [166]
3B Positive Yes Improved responsiveness to immune checkpoint blockade therapy [36]
Nasopharyngeal  3B Adverse No Aggressive disease and poor outcomes [55]
Neuroendocrine tumor 3B Adverse No More lymph node metastasis [40]
Ovarian Mutation burden Positive No Improved progression-free and overall survival [186]
3B Adverse No Shorter disease-free and overall survival [42]
3B Positive No Longer progression-free (significant) and overall (not significant) [41]
3G Positive No Favorable clinical outcomes with A3G, but no association for A3B [167]
Pancreatic 3G None No No association with tumor stage, tumor type, or prognosis [49]
Renal 3B Adverse No More frequent recurrence [169]

*Where applicable,mutation burden” refers to APOBEC3-induced mutation burden