The disclosure provides a method for treating a subject afflicted with a tumor comprising administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of an anti-PD-1
antibody or
antigen-binding portion thereof or an anti-PD-L1
antibody or
antigen-binding portion thereof, wherein the subject is identified as having a low stromal
gene signature
score. In some aspects, the low stromal
gene signature
score is determined by measuring the expression of a panel of stromal genes in a
tumor sample obtained from the subject, wherein the stromal
gene panel comprises at least four genes selected from CDH1, CDH2, MMP1, MMP2, ITGA1, ITGA2, ITGA3, ITGA5, ITGA7, ITGA11, TGFB1, and TGFB1; at least four genes selected from TGFB1, TGFBR2, ACTA2, COL4A1, TAGLN, SH3PXD2A, TWIST1, ZEB1, and ZEB2; or MMP2 and MMP9.