Abstract: Disclosed herein are methods for identifying subjects, diagnosed as having glioblastoma (GBM), as likely responders to treatment with a programmed death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade. In some embodiments, the subjects are identified by determining the level of phosphorylated extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (p-ERK) in a GBM tumor sample from the subject. In some embodiments, the GBM is recurrent. Also disclosed herein are methods of treating GBM subjects, whereby the methods include (1) identifying the subject as a likely responder to PD-1 blockade, and (2) administering a PD-1 inhibitor and/or a programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor.

Abstract: Systems and methods for predicting a sensitivity of the cancer to an anti-programed cell death 1 (PD-1) immunotherapy are disclosed. The method can comprise determining a presence of at least one mutation in at least one target gene/protein in a sample of the cancer, wherein the target gene can include a PTEN, a PTPN11, and/or a BRAF gene/protein. If the PTPN11 or BRAF gene/protein includes at least one mutation and/or the PTEN gene/protein is a wild type PTEN gene/protein, then the cancer can be predicted to be sensitive to the PD-1 immunotherapy.