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[][1] Breast cancer continues to register one of the most common incidence and deaths among female cancers. However, during the last three decades, breast cancer treatment benefited from a sea-change for specific subtypes. These successes led to increases in the period of cancer

Introduction KRAS is the most common driver mutation in lung cancer. ctDNA-based assessment offers advantages over tumor as a minimally invasive method able to capture tumor heterogeneity. Monitoring KRAS mutational load in ctDNA may be useful in the management of the patients. Methods Consecutive patients diagnosed with KRAS mutant lung adenocarcinoma in the tumor biopsy were included in this study. Plasma samples were obtained at different time points during the course of the disease. KRAS mutations in plasma were quantified using digital PCR and correlated with mutations in tumor and with radiological response and progression. Results Two hundred and forty-five plasma samples from 56 patients were analyzed. The rate of detection of KRAS mutations in plasma in our previously characterized KRAS-mutant cases was 82% overall, reaching 96% in cases with more than 1 metastatic location. The dynamics of KRAS mutational load predicted response in 93% and progression in 63% of cases, 33 and 50 days respectively in advance of radiological evaluation. Progression-free survival for patients in whom ctDNA was not detectable in plasma after treatment initiation was significantly longer than for those in whom ctDNA remained detectable (7.7 versus 3.2 months; HR: 0.44, p = 0.004). Conclusions The detection of KRAS mutations in ctDNA showed a good correlation with that in tumor biopsy and, in most cases, predicted tumor response and progression to chemotherapy in advance of radiographic evaluation. The liquid biopsies for ctDNA-based molecular analyses are a reliable tool for KRAS testing in clinical practice.

Background: The addition of a cyclin-dependent kinase 4-6 inhibitor (CDK4/6i) to letrozole or fulvestrant significantly improves progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in HR[+]/HER2[-] MBC pts. At present, the optimal endocrine treatment (ET) after progression on a CDK4/6i remains unknown. However, preliminary findings revealed drivers of adaptive resistance more frequently related to ET than to CDK4/6i. BIOPER explored the efficacy and safety of continuing the same CDK4/6i in combination with a different ET agent beyond progression on prior P-based regimen in HR[+]/HER2[-] MBC and assessed predictive biomarkers to identify those pts who are more likely to benefit from this strategy. Methods: BIOPER (NCT03184090) is a multicenter, non-controlled, phase II trial. Eligible pts included pre- and post-menopausal women aged ≥18 years with HR[+]/HER2[-] MBC that showed a confirmed progressive disease (PD) after having achieved clinical benefit (response or stable disease ≥24 weeks) on immediately prior P plus ET-based regimen. Up to two prior ET lines and not more than one line of prior chemotherapy for MBC were allowed. Pts received P (oral, 75/100/125 mg/day 3 weeks on/1 week off) combined with ET of physician’s choice (including tamoxifen, exemestane, fulvestrant, anastrozole, or letrozole) until PD or unacceptable toxicity. Co-primary endpoints were clinical benefit rate (CBR) -in terms of complete or partial response [PR] and stable disease lasting ≥24 weeks as per RECIST 1.1 (H0: CBR≤5% versus H1: CBR≥20%)- and tumor molecular alterations in the cyclin D-CDK 4/6-retinoblastoma pathway detected at baseline as markers of resistance and sensitivity to P rechallenge. Secondary endpoints included investigator-assessed PFS, objective response rate (ORR), OS, and safety using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (AEs) 4.03. Results: Between June 15, 2017 and April 25, 2019, a total of 33 pts from 21 centers in 2 countries were enrolled. Among the 33 pts who were included in the safety set, 1 patient who did not achieve clinical benefit on prior P-based regimen was excluded from the efficacy analysis (n=32). The median age was 59.5 years (range 42-80 years) and all pts were post-menopausal. A total of 25 (78.1%) pts had visceral disease (56.3% of whom with liver metastases), 16 (50%) had ECOG 0, and 19 (59.4%) presented ≥3 metastatic sites. Of 32 pts, 15 (46.9%) received letrozole, 14 (43.8%) received fulvestrant, and 3 (9.4%) exemestane. The median PFS for the prior P-based regimen was 13.8 months (mo) (95% confidence interval [CI] 5.6-47.1 mo). The median number of prior ET and chemotherapy lines for MBC was 2 (range 1-4). By the data cutoff date, 26 PFS events occurred, 5 pts were still on treatment, and 1 patient discontinued treatment because of investigator’s decision. The CBR was 34.4% (95% CI 18.6-53.2%) reaching the prespecified primary endpoint. The ORR was 3.1% (95% CI 0.1-16.2%) with 1 patient with PR. The median PFS was 2.6 mo (95% CI 1.8-5.5 mo). With a median follow-up of 11.8 mo, the OS data were immature with a total of 8 deaths (25%). The incidence of all grade (G) and G 3 or 4 (G3-4) AEs were 90.9% and 48.5%, respectively. The most common G3-4 AEs were neutropenia (42.4%) and leukopenia (6.1%). No discontinuations due to AEs and treatment-related deaths occurred. A comprehensive molecular tumor profiling will be presented during the symposium. Conclusions: Prolonging CDK4/6 blockade beyond progression on prior P-based treatment achieved the prespecified clinical benefit among pts with HR[+]/HER2[-] MBC. This strategy is currently being evaluated in the randomized phase II PALMIRA trial. Further research is ongoing to identify patient subgroups who could benefit from this treatment strategy. Citation Format: Antonio Llombart-Cussac, Javier Cortés, Beatriz Bellosillo Paricio, Miguel Gil Gil, Giuseppe Curigliano, José Manuel Pérez-García, Laura Comerma Blesa, Manuel Ruíz Borrego, Enrique Espinosa, Lourdes Calvo, Begoña Bermejo, Meritxell Bellet, Federico Rojo Todo, Juan de la Haba, Vanesa Quiroga, Alessandro Minisini, Ana Santaballa, Miguel Sampayo, Andrea Malfettone, Joan Albanell. A phase II proof-of-concept study of palbociclib (P) rechallenge in patients (pts) with hormone receptor (HR)[+]/HER2[-] metastatic breast cancer (MBC) and clinical benefit to prior P-based treatment (BIOPER) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS10-27.

Background: P led to a meaningful improvement in clinical outcomes when used in combination with endocrine therapy for first- or later-line regimen in HR[+]/HER2[-] MBC. Grade 3-4 neutropenia was the most common adverse event (AE) in the P-containing regimens. Although venous thromboembolic events (VTE) have been rarely reported in registrational trials, a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials demonstrated a higher rate of these AEs. Moreover, rare but severe cases of interstitial lung disease (ILD)/pneumonitis have been observed during post-approval use of P. Here, we present a comprehensive toxicity profile of pts included in the PARSIFAL study, with particular emphasis given to AEs of special interest of the overall safety population. Methods: A total of 486 pts with HR[+]/HER2[-] MBC with no prior therapy in the advanced setting and endocrine sensitive criteria (relapse >12 months [mo] after the end of adjuvant endocrine therapy or diagnosed with de novo metastatic disease) were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive P (oral 125 mg/day [d]; 3 weeks on/1 week off) plus either F (intramuscular injection 500 mg/d; d 0, 14, 28, and then every 28 ds) or L (oral 2.5 mg/d). Pts were stratified by visceral involvement and type of disease presentation (de novo/recurrent). Safety assessments included blood analysis and collection of vital signs at screening, d1 of each cycle, and end of treatment/withdrawal. Severity was graded as per the NCI Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v.4.03. Results: The incidence rate of any grade, grade 3-4, and serious AEs was 99.6%, 80.9%, and 29.9%, respectively, in the FP arm, and 99.2%, 78.5%, and 21.1% in the LP arm. Discontinuations due to AEs were 5.4% in the FP arm and 2.1% in the LP arm. Neutropenia, leukopenia, anemia, asthenia, arthralgia, fatigue, and diarrhea were the most frequent AEs in both arms. Febrile neutropenia was reported in 1.2% (3 pts) and 0.4% (1 patient) in the FP and LP arms, respectively. The rate of VTE of any grade was 5.8% (14 pts) in the FP arm and 4.5% (11 pts) in the LP arm (p = 0.531). Among 18 pts who had grade ≥ 3 pulmonary embolism (PE), the incidence reported in the FP and LP arms was 5% (12 pts) vs 2.5% (6 pts), respectively, and many of them (n=16, 88.9%) were unrelated PE. Asymptomatic grade 3 PE was reported in 10 pts of the entire study population on every 3-mo CT scan. Further, in 5 pts PE was detected in the context of progressive disease. Median time from the first dose of study drugs to occurrence of PE was 4.1 mo (range 1.4-32.0 mo) in the FP arm and 7 mo (range 1.8-19.3 mo) in the LP arm. Analysis of baseline characteristics in the whole population revealed that older pts had a significantly increased risk for developing PE (69.5 years [range 47-84 years]; p < 0.01). ECOG performance status, menopausal status, metastatic disease, visceral involvement, number of disease sites, and prior therapies including antithrombotic agents did not significantly increase the risk for developing PE. Grade 3 ILD/pneumonitis was rarely observed in the FP and LP arms (0.8% vs 1.2%, respectively) with no grade 4 AE. Conclusions: First-line treatment with FP and LP for HR[+]/HER2[-] MBC in the PARSIFAL study confirmed the favorable safety profile, with neutropenia representing the most common AE. Although rare, ILD/pneumonitis can be a side effect of P-based regimens. VTE and PE incidence rates were low and consistent with age-specific analyses from PALOMA trials and breast cancer population. Early detection of these AEs may assist in optimizing their management. Citation Format: José Manuel Pérez-García, Antonio Llombart-Cussac, Meritxell Bellet, Florence Dalenc, Miguel J. Gil Gil, Manuel Ruiz Borrego, Joaquín Gavilá, Miguel Sampayo-Cordero, Elena Aguirre, Peter Schmid, Frederik Marmé, Serena Di Cosimo, Joseph Gligorov, Andreas Schneeweiss, Joan Albanell, Pilar Zamora, Duncan Wheatley, Eduardo Martínez-De Dueñas, Vicente Carañana, Kepa Amillano, Andrea Malfettone, Javier Cortés. Palbociclib (P) in combination with fulvestrant (F) or letrozole (L) in endocrine-sensitive patients (pts) with hormone receptor (HR)[+]/HER2[-] metastatic breast cancer (MBC): detailed safety analysis from a multicenter, randomized, open-label, phase II trial (PARSIFAL) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS10-17.

Mechanisms driving tumor progression from less aggressive subtypes to more aggressive states represent key targets for therapy. We identified a subset of luminal A primary breast tumors that give rise to HER2-enriched (HER2E) subtype metastases, but remain clinically HER2 negative (cHER2(–)). By testing the unique genetic and transcriptomic features of these cases, we developed the hypothesis that FGFR4 likely participates in this subtype switching. To evaluate this, we developed 2 FGFR4 genomic signatures using a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model treated with an FGFR4 inhibitor, which inhibited PDX growth in vivo. Bulk tumor gene expression analysis and single-cell RNA sequencing demonstrated that the inhibition of FGFR4 signaling caused molecular switching. In the Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC) breast cancer cohort, FGFR4-induced and FGFR4-repressed signatures each predicted overall survival. Additionally, the FGFR4-induced signature was an independent prognostic factor beyond subtype and stage. Supervised analysis of 77 primary tumors with paired metastases revealed that the FGFR4-induced signature was significantly higher in luminal/ER(+) tumor metastases compared with their primaries. Finally, multivariate analysis demonstrated that the FGFR4-induced signature also predicted site-specific metastasis for lung, liver, and brain, but not for bone or lymph nodes. These data identify a link between FGFR4-regulated genes and metastasis, suggesting treatment options for FGFR4-positive patients, whose high expression is not caused by mutation or amplification.

BACKGROUND: Palbociclib in combination with endocrine therapy (ET) is the first- or second-line standard of care for patients (pts) with hormone receptor (HR)-positive (+)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative (-) metastatic breast cancer (MBC). No clinically validated markers of long-term benefit from palbociclib have been established and the clinically relevant resistance mechanisms to cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 inhibitors remain undefined. In the present study, we explored candidate circulating exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) as putative predictors of benefit and/or resistance to palbociclib in combination with ET in pts included in the PARSIFAL-1 trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02491983). MATERIALS AND METHODS: PARSIFAL-1 was a randomized, open-label, phase II trial aimed at evaluating the efficacy and safety of palbociclib plus either fulvestrant or letrozole in HR+/HER2- MBC pts. For the study of exosomal miRNAs, forty-five consenting pts were selected based on primary endocrine resistance according to the ABC-4 criteria. Nine pts who progressed within the first six months after treatment initiation in the absence of an objective response were considered Resistant and thirty-six pts who progressed more than six months after starting therapy were classified as Sensitive. Exosomes were isolated from plasma samples collected at study entry (baseline) and after 12 weeks of treatment initiation. Differences in miRNA expression between Resistant and Sensitive pts as well as miRNA pharmacodynamic changes between baseline and 12-week samples were assessed. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) was isolated using the miRNeasy plasma kit and the library preparation was done using the QIAseq miRNA library kit according to manufacturer’s instructions. All experiments were conducted at QIAGEN Genomic Services in Germany. Differential expression of miRNA between different conditions was studied using EdgeR statistical software package from Bioconductor. Estimated p-values for significantly differentially expressed miRNAs were adjusted using Benjamini-Hochberg’s False Discovery Rate (FDR). Differences in expression of miRNA with an FDR below 0.05 were considered significant. RESULTS: Sequencing of exosomal RNA and preparation of miRNA libraries were successful for all included samples, with good technical performance. On average, 2.8 million Unique Molecular Index-corrected reads were obtained for each sample and the average percentage of mappable reads was 34.5%. Overall, expression of miRNAs was higher in Resistant compared with Sensitive pts. Eight miRNAs were called as differentially expressed between the two groups. Four miRNAs (miR-1246; miR-375; miR-193a-5p; miR-181d-5p) were differentially expressed at baseline, three (miR-196a-5p, miR-200a-3p, miR-320d) were differentially expressed at 12 weeks, and expression of one miRNA (miR-141-3p) was consistently higher across both time points in Resistant pts. Significant pharmacodynamic changes in miRNA expression were observed both in Resistant and Sensitive pts. Seven miRNAs (miR-224-5p, miR-16-5p, let-7a-5p, miR-381-3p, miR-200c-3p, miR-493-3p, let-7b-5p) in Sensitive pts and three miRNAs (miR-223-3p, miR-126-3p, miR-320b) in Resistant pts were differentially expressed between baseline and 12-week samples. CONCLUSIONS: Circulating exosomal miRNA profiling is feasible in liquid biopsies from MBC pts. Differential expression of selected miRNAs at baseline or their pharmacodynamic modulation may predict benefit from palbociclib combined with ET in pts with HR+/HER2- MBC. Validation of the most promising miRNAs by custom quantitative PCR is warranted. Citation Format: David Casadevall, Joan Albanell Mestres, Federico Rojo, Beatríz Bellosillo, Abel González, Violeta Serra, Meritxell Bellet, Miguel Angel Gil, Miquel Angel Pujana, Angelo Gámez, Enrique Espinosa, Peter Schmid, Joseph Gligorov, Frederik Marmé, Carlos L. Arteaga, Leonardo Mina, Andrea Malfettone, Miguel Sampayo, José Manuel Pérez-García, Javier Cortés, Antonio Llombart-Cussac. Baseline and pharmacodynamic changes of circulating exosomal microRNAs predict early versus late progression to palbociclib plus endocrine therapy in patients with metastatic breast cancer. A sub-analysis of the PARSIFAL-1 trial [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-10-17.

Objective To assess the economic impact of introducing biosimilars of bevacizumab for the management of cancer patients receiving systemic bevacizumab in the National Health System (SNHS) of Spain. Methods A 3-year budget impact analysis model was adapted to estimate the cost of introducing biosimilars of bevacizumab in the SNHS for the adult population who were candidates to receive treatment with bevacizumab. Values for the estimation of the population were obtained from the literature and were validated by an expert panel. In this analysis only pharmaceutical costs (euro, year 2021) obtained from official databases were considered. A sensitivity analysis was performed to examine the robustness of the model. Results The introduction of bevacizumab biosimilars would generate an annual cost saving of euro11 558 268 (-5.1%) for the first year with a penetration share of biosimilars from 30.0%, euro29 126 373 (-8.5%) for the second year with a share of 50.0% and euro52 361 778 (-13.6%) for the third year with a share of 80.0%. The total pharmaceutical costs of the scenario without biosimilars are euro227 033 352 for the first year, euro342 663 209 for the second year and euro385 013 076 for the third year. In contrast, the pharmaceutical costs of the scenario with bevacizumab biosimilars are euro215 475 084, euro313 536 836 and euro332 651 297 for years 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Conclusions The introduction of biosimilars in the Spanish Health System would generate saving costs in the pharmacological budget to boost biological drugs from the first year.

Purpose: We investigated the value of tumor-infiltrating NK (TI-NK) cells and HLA class I tumor expression as biomarkers of response to neoadjuvant anti-HER2 antibody–based treatment in breast cancer. Experimental Design: TI-NK cells and HLA-I were determined by IHC in pretreatment tumor biopsies from two cohorts of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer [discovery cohort (n = 42) and validation cohort (n = 71)]. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) were scored according to international guidelines. Biomarker association with pathologic complete response (pCR) and disease-free survival (DFS) was adjusted for prognostic factors. Gene set variation analysis was used for determining immune cell populations concomitant to NK-cell enrichment in HER2-positive tumors from the Cancer Genome Atlas (n = 190). Results: TI-NK cells were significantly associated with pCR in the discovery cohort as well as in the validation cohort (P < 0.0001), independently of clinicopathologic factors. A ≥3 TI-NK cells/50x high-power field (HPF) cutoff predicted pCR in the discovery and validation cohort [OR, 188 (11–3154); OR, 19.5 (5.3–71.8)]. Presence of TI-NK cells associated with prolonged DFS in both patient cohorts [HR, 0.07 (0.01–0.6); P = 0.01; HR, 0.3 (0.08–1.3); P = 0.1]. NK-, activated dendritic- and CD8 T-cell gene expression signatures positively correlated in HER2-positive tumors, supporting the value of NK cells as surrogates of effective antitumor immunity. Stratification of patients by tumor HLA-I expression identified patients with low and high relapse risk independently of pCR. Conclusions: This study identifies baseline TI-NK cells as an independent biomarker with great predictive value for pCR to anti-HER2 antibody–based treatment and points to the complementary value of tumor HLA-I status for defining patient prognosis independently of pCR.

Background Copy Number Alterations (CNAs) represent changes in the copy number of genomic segments of somatic cells due to chromosomal instability. CNAs include gene amplifications or deletions and can be involved in tumorigenesis. We analyzed CNAs data in pre- and post-treatment (ttm) tumors from patients (pts) with early breast cancer (BC) in the neoadjuvant trials GEICAM/2006-03 and GEICAM/2006-14, with the aim to identify CNAs in particular genomic regions (genetic entropy) associated with treatment response. Methods GEICAM/2006-03 (NCT00432172) HER2-negative pts were selectively treated according to clinical subtypes: triple negative (TN) pts were treated with standard anthracycline/taxane -based chemotherapy (AT-CT) +/- carboplatin, while luminal patients were randomized to AT-CT vs. hormonotherapy; GEICAM/2006-14 (NCT00841828) HER2+ pts received AT-CT plus anti-HER2 therapy.Shallow-whole genome Illumina sequencing DNA data from 204 paraffin-embedded tumors (100 pre- and 104 post-ttm) were segmented to obtain CNAs and recurrent altered genomic regions were defined. We used Wilcoxon test to analyze the frequency of altered regions and logistic regression analyses to explore their association with tumor response, in terms of pathological complete response (pCR) in breast and axilla. Validation of altered genes associated with therapy response was performed in the microarray gene expression-based Hatzis dataset (GSE25066) from pts receiving neoadjuvant AT-CT (1). Results A total of 672 regions covering the whole genome were identified upon analysis of CNAs data. Regions were categorized according to their alteration status as amplified, normal and lost. Comparative analysis of alterations revealed 11 regions significantly different (p Conclusions According to our results, neoadjuvant therapy can modulate genomic aberrations landscape in BC. Our data suggest that amplification of specific genes in the genomic locus (21q22.12) is involved in the neoadjuvant therapy response in early BC. (1): Hatzis et al., JAMA 2011, 305(18) 1873-81 Citation Format: Alba E, Rueda OM, Lluch A, Albanell J, Chin S-F, Chacón JI, Calvo L, De la Haba-Rodriguez J, Bermejo B, Ribelles N, Sánchez-Rovira P, Plazaola A, Barnadas A, Cirauqul B, Ramos M, Arcusa A, Carrasco E, Herranz J, Chiesa M, Caballero R, Santonja A, Rojo F, Caldas C. Genome copy number entropy as predictor of response for neoadjuvant therapy in early breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-12-03.

Simple Summary Hyperactivation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR cell signalling pathway is an important and well-described mechanism of trastuzumab resistance in HER2-positive breast cancer. In cell-line models of acquired trastuzumab resistance generated in our laboratory, we demonstrate this type of activation, which is independent of HER2-mediated regulation. We investigate whether the use of specific mTOR inhibitors, a PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway effector, could lead to decreased activity of the pathway, influencing trastuzumab resistance. We demonstrate that TAK-228, a mTORC1 and mTORC2 inhibitor, can reverse resistance and increasing response to trastuzumab in models of primary and acquired resistance. The use of anti-HER2 therapies has significantly improved clinical outcome in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, yet a substantial proportion of patients acquire resistance after a period of treatment. The PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway is a good target for drug development, due to its involvement in HER2-mediated signalling and in the emergence of resistance to anti-HER2 therapies, such as trastuzumab. This study evaluates the activity of three different PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors, i.e., BEZ235, everolimus and TAK-228 in vitro, in a panel of HER2-positive breast cancer cell lines with primary and acquired resistance to trastuzumab. We assess the antiproliferative effect and PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitory capability of BEZ235, everolimus and TAK-228 alone, and in combination with trastuzumab. Dual blockade with trastuzumab and TAK-228 was superior in reversing the acquired resistance in all the cell lines. Subsequently, we analyse the effects of TAK-228 in combination with trastuzumab on the cell cycle and found a significant increase in G0/G1 arrest in most cell lines. Likewise, the combination of both drugs induced a significant increase in apoptosis. Collectively, these experiments support the combination of trastuzumab with PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors as a potential strategy for inhibiting the proliferation of HER2-positive breast cancer cell lines that show resistance to trastuzumab.

The bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4), a member of the bromodomain and extra-terminal domain (BET) protein family, has emerged in the last years as a promising molecular target in many tumors including breast cancer. The triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents the molecular subtype with the worst prognosis and a current therapeutic challenge, and TNBC cells have been reported to show a preferential sensitivity to BET inhibitors. Interestingly, BRD4 phosphorylation (pBRD4) was found as an alteration that confers resistance to BET inhibition and PP2A proposed as the phosphatase responsible to regulate pBRD4 levels. However, the potential clinical significance of pBRD4, as well as its potential correlation with the PP2A pathway in TNBC, remains to be investigated. Here, we evaluated the expression levels of pBRD4 in a series of 132 TNBC patients. We found high pBRD4 levels in 34.1% of cases (45/132), and this alteration was found to be associated with the development of patient recurrences (p = 0.007). Interestingly, BRD4 hyperphosphorylation predicted significantly shorter overall (p &lt, 0.001) and event-free survival (p &lt, 0.001). Moreover, multivariate analyses were performed to confirm its independent prognostic impact in our cohort. In conclusion, our findings show that BRD4 hyperphosphorylation is an alteration associated with PP2A inhibition that defines a subgroup of TNBC patients with unfavorable prognosis, suggesting the potential clinical and therapeutic usefulness of the PP2A/BRD4 axis as a novel molecular target to overcome resistance to treatments based on BRD4 inhibition.

Question Which is the optimal endocrine partner (fulvestrant vs letrozole) for cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitor palbociclib in previously untreated, endocrine-sensitive, hormone receptor-positive, ERBB2-negative advanced breast cancer? Findings In this randomized, open-label, phase 2 trial, 486 patients were assigned in equal numbers to receive palbociclib plus fulvestrant or letrozole. Median investigator-assessed progression-free survival was 27.9 months for fulvestrant-palbociclib vs 32.8 months for letrozole-palbociclib, a difference that was not statistically significant. Meaning Fulvestrant-palbociclib demonstrated no improvement in progression-free survival over letrozole-palbociclib, confirming letrozole as the preferred palbociclib partner in this patient population. This randomized clinical trial investigates fulvestrant-palbociclib vs letrozole-palbociclib as initial therapy for endocrine-sensitive, hormone receptor-positive, ERBB2-negative breast cancer. IMPORTANCE The cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitor palbociclib in combination with letrozole has become a standard first-line treatment for patients with endocrine-sensitive, hormone receptor-positive, ERBB2-negative advanced breast cancer. Meanwhile, the antiestrogen fulvestrant was shown to be superior to anastrozole in the absence of cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibition for this patient population. OBJECTIVE To assess whether fulvestrant is superior to letrozole when combined with palbociclib in the first-line scenario. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In this international, randomized, open-label, phase 2 clinical study conducted from July 30, 2015, to January 8, 2018, patients with hormone receptor-positive, ERBB2-negative advanced breast cancer with no prior therapy in the metastatic setting and endocrine-sensitive criteria were recruited from 47 centers in 7 countries. Data were analyzed from February 11 to May 15, 2020. INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomly assigned (1:1 ratio) to receive palbociclib with either fulvestrant or letrozole. Stratification factors were type of disease presentation (de novo vs recurrent) and the presence of visceral involvement (yes vs no). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary end point was investigator-assessed progression-free survival determined by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, version 1.1. RESULTS A total of 486 women (median age, 63 years [range, 25-90 years]; 3 Asian women [0.6%]; 4 Black women [0.8%]; 461 White women [94.9%]; 18 women of unknown race [3.7%]) were randomized (243 to fulvestrant-palbociclib and 243 to letrozole-palbociclib). Median investigator-assessed progression-free survival was 27.9 months (95% CI, 24.2-33.1 months) in the fulvestrant-palbociclib group vs 32.8 months (95% CI, 25.8-35.9 months) in the letrozole-palbociclib group (hazard ratio, 1.13; 95% CI, 0.89-1.45; P = .32). This result was consistent across the stratification factors. No significant differences were observed in objective response rate (46.5% vs 50.2%) and 3-year overall survival rate (79.4% vs 77.1%) for fulvestrant-palbociclib and letrozole-palbociclib, respectively. Grade 3-4 adverse events were comparable among treatment groups, and no new safety signals were identified. No treatment-related deaths were reported. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Although fulvestrant-palbociclib demonstrated significant antitumor activity, this randomized clinical trial failed to identify an improvement in progression-free survival with this regimen over letrozole-palbociclib in patients with endocrine-sensitive, hormone receptor-positive, ERBB2-negative advanced breast cancer.

[Purpose]: To characterize expression of neuregulin-1 (NRG1), an HER3 ligand, in HER2-positive breast cancer and its relation with the efficacy of trastuzumab with or without pertuzumab., [Experimental Design]: Characterization of NRG1 expression in tumor cell lines, in tumor specimens, and in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). Patient-derived CAFs were used to investigate NRG1 impact on the activity of trastuzumab with or without pertuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer cells. The relationship between NRG1 expression and pathologic response to anti-HER2–based neoadjuvant therapy was assessed in a retrospective patient cohort and in the NeoSphere trial., [Results]: NRG1 was expressed in HER2-positive breast cancer–derived fibroblasts at significantly higher levels than in cancer cells. NRG1 and the conditioned media (CM) from CAFs phosphorylated HER3 and AKT in cancer cells and mediated trastuzumab resistance. Stable genetic depletion of NRG1 from CAFs overcame trastuzumab resistance. Pertuzumab effectively suppressed trastuzumab resistance mediated by either NRG1 or CAF's CM. NRG1 engaged an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition that was prevented by trastuzumab and pertuzumab. In clinical samples, stromal and/or tumor cell expression of NRG1 determined by immunohistochemistry was uncommon (13.2%) yet significantly linked with residual disease following trastuzumab-based neoadjuvant therapy. In the NeoSphere trial, the magnitude of the difference of pathologic complete response rates favoring the pertuzumab arm was higher in the NRG1-high group., [Conclusions]: CAF-derived NRG1 mediates trastuzumab resistance through HER3/AKT, which might be reverted by pertuzumab. In patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, high expression of NRG1 was associated to poor response to trastuzumab, but not in combination with pertuzumab., This work is supported by ISCIII (CIBERONC CB16/12/00481, CB16/12/00241, PI18/00382, PI18/00006, PI18/01219 and by Generalitat de Catalunya (2017 SGR 507). S. Menendez is supported by Department de Salut, Generalitat de Catalunya (PERIS SLT006/17/00040). MARBiobanc is supported by ISCiii/FEDER (PT17/0015/0011) and by “Xarxa de Bancs de tumors” sponsored by Pla Director d’ Oncologia de Catalunya (XBTC) and Fundacion Jimenez Díaz Biobanks Platform by PT13/0010/0012 grant. Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain (BFU2015-71371-R) and the CRIS Cancer Foundation provides support to A. Pandiella. Work carried out in our laboratories receive support from the European Community through the Regional Development Funding Program (FEDER). J.C. Montero is funded by the ISCIII through a Miguel Servet program (CPII17/00015) and receives research support from the same institution (PI18/00796). J. Albanell is supported by Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF20-08), Instituto de Salud Carlos III Project Reference number AC15/00062 and the EC under the framework of the ERA-NET TRANSCAN-2 initiative co-financed by FEDER, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CB16/12/00449 and PI19/01181), and Asociacion Espanola Contra el Cáncer (AECC).

AURORA aims to study the processes of relapse in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) by performing multi-omics profiling on paired primary tumors and early-course metastases. Among 381 patients (primary tumor and metastasis pairs: 252 TGS, 152 RNA-Seq, 67 SNP Arrays), we found a driver role for GATA1 and MEN1 somatic mutations. Metastases were enriched in ESR1, PTEN, CDH1, PIK3CA and RB1 mutations; MDM4, MYC amplifications; ARID1A deletions. An increase in clonality was observed in driver genes like ERBB2 and RB1. Intrinsic subtype switching occurred in 36% of cases. Luminal A/B to HER2-Enriched switching was associated with TP53 and/or PIK3CA mutations. Metastases had lower immune score and increased immune permissive cells. High TMB correlated to shorter time to relapse in HR+/HER2- cancers. ESCAT tier I/II alterations were detected in 51% of patients and matched therapy was used in 7%. Integration of multi-omics analyses in clinical practice could impact treatment strategies in MBC., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Trastuzumab is the first-line targeted therapeutic drug for HER2-positive breast cancer, leading to improved overall survival. However, acquired resistance inevitably occurs. We aimed to identify, quantify, and assess the mechanisms of acquired resistance to trastuzumab. We established an acquired trastuzumab-resistant model in vitro from BT-474, a trastuzumab-sensitive, HER2-amplified breast-cancer cell line. A multi-omic strategy was implemented to obtain gene, proteome, and phosphoproteome signatures associated with acquired resistance to trastuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer, followed by validation in human clinical samples. YAP1 dephosphorylation and TEAD2 overexpression were detected as significant alterations in the Hippo pathway in trastuzumab-resistant breast cancer. Because of the emerging role of these proteins as mediators of normal growth and tumorigenesis, we assessed the exogenous modulation of their activity, either by in vitro gene silencing or by pharmacological inhibition of the YAP1/TEAD complexes, both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, we identified increased signaling through the Hippo pathway in human samples after progression following trastuzumab treatment. Finally, YAP1/TAZ nuclear accumulation in malignant cells in HER2 breast tumor was significantly associated with worse progression-free and overall survival in metastatic HER2-positive breast-cancer patients. Our results suggest the involvement of Hippo signaling in acquired trastuzumab resistance in breast cancer. Additionally, we provide novel evidence for a potential breast-cancer treatment strategy based on dual targeting of HER2 and Hippo pathway effectors, which may improve the antitumor activity of trastuzumab and help overcome resistance., The present work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) with European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding through the Institute of Health Carlos III (AES Program, grants PI15/00934, PI18/00382 and PI18/00006; CIBERONC, Biomedical Research Networking Centre for Cancer; Biobanks Platform, PT13/0010/0012; ProteoRed, PRB2-ISCIII, PT13/0001); and the Community of Madrid (S2010/BMD-2344). P.G.-A. was supported by a Fundación Conchita Rábago de Jiménez Díaz grant. P.M. was supported by the ISCIII Miguel Servet Program (CP16/00116).

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women. Most of breast cancer patients are diagnosed in early stages and will be treated with curative intent. Despite this, some patients will relapse. The identification of patients at high risk remains an important challenge. CTCs can be useful to identify this patients, to assess tumor dynamics and to monitoring therapy. There is definitive evidence on the prognostic role of CTCs in early breast cancer (eBC) but its clinical utility in daily practice is still lacking. We have to take into consideration that the studies published to date mainly evaluated the presence of CTC based on the expression of epithelial surface markers. Future studies need to overcome this limitation and important advances in technical methods can assess CTCs and capture the heterogeneity of the tumor landscape. It is also tempting to speculate that CTCs may also provide complementary information on the interplay of tumor cells with the immune system. The combination of different methods to detect tumoral disease by liquid biopsy may provide new ways to personalize in an unprecedented manner the management of patients with eBC.

Purpose:Despite the therapeutic success of existing HER2-targeted therapies, tumors invariably relapse. This study aimed at identifying new mechanisms responsible for HER2-targeted therapy resistance.Experimental Design:We have used a platform of HER2-targeted therapy–resistant cell lines and primary cultures of healthy and tumor-associated fibroblasts (TAF) to identify new potential targets related to tumor escape from anti-HER2 therapies.Results:We have shown that TAFs promote resistance to HER2-targeted therapies. TAFs produce and secrete high levels of FGF5, which induces FGFR2 activation in the surrounding breast cancer cells. FGFR2 transactivates HER2 via c-Src, leading to resistance to HER2-targeted therapies. In vivo, coinoculating nonresistant cell lines with TAFs results in more aggressive and resistant tumors. Resistant cells activate fibroblasts and secrete FGFR ligands, creating a positive feedback loop that fuels resistance. FGFR2 inhibition not only inhibits HER2 activation, but also induces apoptosis in cells resistant to HER2-targeted therapies. In vivo, inhibitors of FGFR2 reverse resistance and resensitize resistant cells to HER2-targeted therapies. In HER2 patients' samples, α-SMA, FGF5, and FGFR2 contribute to poor outcome and correlate with c-Src activation. Importantly, expression of FGF5 and phospho-HER2 correlated with a reduced pathologic complete response rate in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant trastuzumab, which highlights the significant role of TAFs/FGF5 in HER2 breast cancer progression and resistance.Conclusions:We have identified the TAF/FGF5/FGFR2/c-Src/HER2 axis as an escape pathway responsible for HER2-targeted therapy resistance in breast cancer, which can be reversed by FGFR inhibitors.

HER2-positive breast cancer is currently managed with chemotherapy in combination with specific anti-HER2 therapies, including trastuzumab. However, a high percentage of patients with HER2-positive tumors do not respond to trastuzumab (primary resistance) or either recur (acquired resistance), mostly due to molecular alterations in the tumor that are either unknown or undetermined in clinical practice. Those alterations may cause the tumor to be refractory to treatment with trastuzumab, promoting tumor proliferation and metastasis. Using continued exposure of a HER2-positive cell line to trastuzumab, we generated a model of acquired resistance characterized by increased expression of several cytokines. Differential gene expression analysis indicated an overexpression of 15 genes, including five different chemokines, and highlighting CCL5/RANTES as the most overexpressed one. Functional studies, either by in vitro gene silencing or by in vitro and in vivo pharmacologic inhibition of the CCL5/CCR5 interaction with maraviroc, confirmed that CCL5 overexpression was implicated in acquired resistance to trastuzumab, which was mediated by ERK activation. In patient samples, increased CCL5 expression significantly correlated with lower rates of complete response after neoadjuvant therapy, confirmed by detection of high serum CCL5 levels by ELISA. Overexpression of CCL5 correlated with ERK phosphorylation in tumor cells and was statistically associated with worse disease-free survival and overall cancer survival in patients with early HER2-positive breast cancer.

Purpose: Vanucizumab is an investigational antiangiogenic, first-in-class, bispecific mAb targeting VEGF-A and angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2). This first-in-human study evaluated the safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and antitumor activity of vanucizumab in adults with advanced solid tumors refractory to standard therapies. Experimental Design: Patients received escalating biweekly (3–30 mg/kg) or weekly (10–30 mg/kg) intravenous doses guided by a Bayesian logistic regression model with overdose control. Results: Forty-two patients were treated. One dose-limiting toxicity, a fatal pulmonary hemorrhage from a large centrally located mediastinal mass judged possibly related to vanucizumab, occurred with the 19 mg/kg biweekly dose. Arterial hypertension (59.5%), asthenia (42.9%), and headache (31%) were the most common toxicities. Seventeen (41%) patients experienced treatment-related grade ≥3 toxicities. Toxicity was generally higher with weekly than biweekly dosing. A MTD of vanucizumab was not reached in either schedule. Pharmacokinetics were dose-linear with an elimination half-life of 6–9 days. All patients had reduced plasma levels of free VEGF-A and Ang-2; most had reductions in KTRANS (measured by dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI). Two patients (renal cell and colon cancer) treated with 30 mg/kg achieved confirmed partial responses. Ten patients were without disease progression for ≥6 months. A flat-fixed 2,000 mg biweekly dose (phamacokinetically equivalent to 30 mg/kg biweekly) was recommended for further investigation. Conclusions: Biweekly vanucizumab had an acceptable safety and tolerability profile consistent with single-agent use of selective inhibitors of the VEGF-A and Ang/Tie2 pathway. Vanucizumab modulated its angiogenic targets, impacted tumor vascularity, and demonstrated encouraging antitumor activity in this heterogeneous population. Clin Cancer Res; 24(7); 1536–45. ©2017 AACR.

This consensus statement is a joint initiative of the Spanish Society of Pathology (SEAP) and the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM). It revises and updates the recommendations for the use of biomarkers in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. The group of experts recommends that, in all cases of breast cancer, the histologic grade and the alpha-estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor, Ki-67 and HER2 status should be determined, in order to assist prognosis and establish therapeutic options, including hormone therapy, chemotherapy and anti-HER2 therapy. One of the four available genetic prognostic platforms (MammaPrint ® , Oncotype DX ® , Prosigna ® or EndoPredict ® ) may be used in node-negative ER-positive patients to establish a prognostic category and decide, together with the patient, whether adjuvant treatment be limited to hormonal therapy. Newer technologies, including next generation sequencing, liquid biopsy, tumour infiltrating lymphocytes or PD-1 determination, are still investigational.

For many patients with breast cancer, symptomatic bone metastases appear after years of latency. How micrometastatic lesions remain dormant and undetectable before initiating colonization is unclear. Here, we describe a mechanism involved in bone metastatic latency of oestrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer. Using an in vivo genome-wide short hairpin RNA screening, we identified the kinase MSK1 as an important regulator of metastatic dormancy in breast cancer. In patients with ER+ breast cancer, low MSK1 expression associates with early metastasis. We show that MSK1 downregulation impairs the differentiation of breast cancer cells, increasing their bone homing and growth capacities. MSK1 controls the expression of genes required for luminal cell differentiation, including the GATA3 and FOXA1 transcription factors, by modulating their promoter chromatin status. Our results indicate that MSK1 prevents metastatic progression of ER+ breast cancer, suggesting that stratifying patients with breast cancer as high or low risk for early relapse based on MSK1 expression could improve prognosis. Gawrzak et al. show that MSK1 regulates bone metastatic dormancy of ER+ breast cancer. MSK1 affects histone modifications at luminal transcription factor promoters to prevent cell differentiation and bone homing.

This consensus statement revises and updates the recommendations for biomarkers use in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, and is a joint initiative of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology and the Spanish Society of Pathology. This expert group recommends determining in all cases of breast cancer the histologic grade and the alpha-estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor, Ki-67 and HER2 status, in order to assist prognosis and establish therapeutic options, including hormone therapy, chemotherapy and anti-HER2 therapy. One of the four available genetic prognostic platforms (MammaPrint®, Oncotype DX®, Prosigna® or EndoPredict®) may be used in node-negative ER-positive patients to establish a prognostic category and decide with the patient whether adjuvant treatment may be limited to hormonal therapy. Newer technologies including next-generation sequencing, liquid biopsy, tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes or PD-1 determination are at this point investigational.

Introduction: Comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) of tumors is available at many specialized cancer centers, potentially allowing oncologists to individualize patient therapy based on tumor molecular features. However, clinicians still lack a systematic approach to deal with the wealth of information provided by CGP. The proportion of plausible drug-matched alterations over the total number of alterations detected by CGP (Matching Score, MS) has been postulated to predict the likelihood of patient benefit. We performed a systematic analysis of MS and its association with the outcome of patients treated according to tumor DNA alterations within two recent precision oncology trials. Materials and Methods: We downloaded the supplementary data from WINTHER (NCT01856296) and I-PREDICT (NCT02534675) studies. We included patients who received treatment for one or more single-gene alterations, excluding eight patients that received immunotherapy due to high tumor mutational burden, PD-L1 positivity or microsatellite instability. We used MS cut-offs of 0.25 (as in WINTHER) and 0.5 (as in I-PREDICT) and also MS as a continuous variable to study its association with clinical variables such as age, sex, tumor type, and number of previous treatment lines (Kruskall-Wallis and Wilcoxon-rank tests), as well as disease control rate (DCR), progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) (Cox proportional hazards models). Results: The pooled analysis included 144 patients. Median age was 60 years (range 21-86) and 64% had received ≥ 2 lines of therapy. Most patients had colorectal (37%), lung (14%), or breast (11%) tumors, and 58% were treated with 2 or more drugs. MS was not associated with any clinical variable nor with DCR. MS > 0.25 (n=98; 68%) was associated with longer PFS (median 3.5 vs. 1.9 months, HR [95%CI]: 0.60 [0.41-0.87]) but not with OS. In contrast, MS > 0.5 (n=41; 28%) was associated with longer OS (median 14.1 vs. 6.5 months, HR [95%CI]: 0.50 [0.29-0.54]) but not with PFS. As a continuous variable, increasing MS values were associated with better OS (HR [95% CI]: 0.43 [0.20-0.95]) and with a non-significant trend towards better PFS (HR [95% CI]: 0.54 [0.21-1.05]). In a multivariable model adjusted for Age and study, PFS/OS probabilities improved consistently with increasing MS values from 0 to 0.5. With MS values > 0.5, OS probabilities kept increasing while PFS probabilities plateaued. Conclusions: The significant and consistent relationship between MS and OS (in contrast with PFS) may be explained by patients with higher MS values having more targeted therapies available for successive treatment lines, although we cannot exclude the existence of other confounding prognostic variables. We note that, as better drugs are developed and new knowledge is incorporated into the clinic, the value of CGP will probably increase over time, improving the number of patients with actionable alterations and their outcome. Citation Format: David Casadevall, Michal Marczyk, Xavier Monzonis, Lajos Pusztai, Joan Albanell. Pooled analysis of matching score and patient outcome in I-PREDICT and WINTHER studies [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 423.

Introduction HER2+ correlates with aggressive phenotype and poor prognosis. The use of several antiHER2 drugs has dramatically improved prognosis and survival of HER2+ breast cancer (BC) patients. However, ≈20% of these patients will present resistance to antiHER2 therapies and relapse. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of AXL in antiHER2 treatment resistance and its potential as a druggable biomarker in HER2+ BC. Methods We generated 2 trastuzumab (T) resistant models from a HER2+ BC patient. The first one was a PDX derived resistant cell line established by chronic treatment for 6 months with T in vitro (TR1 and TR2). The second resistant model (TR4) was established by chronic treatment with T for 4 months and two serial passages in mice. The prognostic value of AXL was evaluated in primary tumor cohort of HER2+ BC patients treated by standard guidelines (n=51). AXL was also explored in a cohort from PAMELA trial, a neoadjuvant phase II study. Patients were given lapatinib and T for 18 weeks (Luminal-HER2+ patients were additionally given hormonotherapy). Tumor samples were collected at baseline, day 14 and surgery (n= 96). Results PDX resistant cell lines (TR1 and TR2) and resistant tumors (TR4) exhibit upregulation of AXL in comparison to the parental cells (PDX118). In vitro, the combination of an AXL inhibitor (TP-0903) + T resensitized resistant cells to T. In 3D organoids models from TR4, the combination decreased cell number in organoids more than both single agents. In TR4 in vivo model, TP-0903 + T completely abrogate tumor growth for more than 2 months.To validate our preclinical findings, we analyzed the level of AXL in our retrospectively cohort of patients. AXL level was significantly upregulated in patients who relapsed (p Conclusion AXL level was correlated with poor outcome of HER2+ BC patients. On our preclinical models, we showed that combination of TP-0903 and T abrogate tumor growth in acquired resistant models to T in PDXs. We postulate AXL as a promising new therapeutic strategy to overcome resistance to antiHER2 therapies Citation Format: Anna Adam-Artigues, Raimundo Cervera, Enrique Javier Arenas, Fara Brasó-Maristany, Alex Martinez-Sabadell, Eduardo Tormo, Cristina Hernando, Maria Teresa Martinez, Soraya Simon, Jesús Poveda, Octavio Burgués, Ana Rovira, Federico Rojo, Joan Albanell, Begoña Bermejo, Ana Lluch, Pilar Eroles, Aleix Prat, Joaquin Arribas, Juan Miguel Cejalvo. AXL is a potential druggable target in trastuzumab resistance in HER2+ breast cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 1075.

558 Background: Genomic platforms, such as Mammaprint (Agendia) (MP) and OncoType (Genomic Health) (OT), have been validated to determine the risk of relapse in therapeutic decision-making in early-stage hormone receptor positive (HR+), epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) negative breast cancer (BC). Discordances in risk allocation between these platforms affect up to 30% of patients. This study aims to develop the MamaPred test to improve the diagnostic performance of recurrence risk in HR+/HER2- early-stage BC. Methods: A total of 606 HR+/HER2- early-stage BC previously tested with OT [n = 287; Low Risk (LR) = 165, Intermediate Risk (IR) = 103 and High Risk (HR) = 19] and MP (n = 319; LR = 217 and HR = 102) were included. A retrospective independent series of 144 HR+/HER2- early-stage BC [median follow-up: 10.53 years (range: 3.1-23.1 yrs); age (median = 62.9 yrs (33-89 yrs); systemic relapse 10.5% (n = 15)] was used as validation set.The expression levels of 2560 cancer-related mRNAs were evaluated from one 5 μm thin-section of a FFPE block (15 mm2 tumor area) using the Oncology Biomarker Panel (OBP) and the HTG EdgeSeq System (HTG Molecular Diagnostics. Inc) and quantified by NGS on a NextSeq550 sequencer (Illumina). A predictive model was built from normalized and logarithmically transformed values (rescaled to [0, 1]) using as response a binary meta-variable constructed by taking the values -1 (for LR of MP and OT together the OT IR) and 1 (for HR MP and OT). Differential expression, GSEA and visualization were performed with DESeq2, gage and pathview packages respectively in R v4.0.1. Results: MamaPred consists of a logistic regression classifier with an elastic net penalty (mix of L1 and L2 priors as regularizer) where the mixing parameter is optimized along with regularization strength by selecting the ones that minimize the area under the precision and recall curve over a validation split for each training fold. Metrics of MamaPred were: balanced accuracy, 80.5%; Kappa, 0.562; specificity, 80.7%; and NPV, 91.4%. GSE analysis on differentially expressed genes (q < 0.1) showed four KEGG pathways overrepresented in HR (p < 0.05): adherens junction, tight junction, glutathione metabolism and focal adhesion; and two underrepresented: DNA replication (p = 0.0765) and pyrimidine metabolism (p = 0.086).The prognostic prediction of MamaPred was validated on the independent retrospective series, distant disease-free survival for HR and LR being 88.63% (95% IC: 78.72%-99.78%) and 98.1% (95% IC: 95.6%-100%) respectively (p = 0.00603). Correlation between the probabilities assigned to any given sample and its replicas was extremely high (r > 0.9 p < 1e-5). Conclusions: MamaPred identifies HR+/HER2- early-stage BC patients with high-risk of distant relapse improving the prognostic value of those studies that compare MP and OT, suggesting a more precise risk classification.

e12600 Background: In early-stage HER2+ breast cancer (BC), escalation or de-escalation of systemic treatment is an unmet need. Integration of promising biomarkers into risk scoring will further help progressing in the field. We aim to develop a prognostic signature that integrates two miRNAs (A and B) and quantitative and qualitative clinical variables in patients diagnosed with HER2+ BC. Methods: This study was conducted in a retrospective cohort of 45 HER2+ BC patients. Patients received standard treatment for localized disease. We calculated a prognostic signature for disease-free survival (DFS) using principal components analysis for mixed data combining clinicopathological data (Ki67 and axillary lymph node [pN0, pN1, pN2, pN3]) and expression of two microRNAs (we used mir-16 as housekeeping). Multiple DFS prognostic signatures were calculated and goodness of fit was evaluated by means of Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC) to perform Cox model selection. Signature was then dichotomized into “high risk” and “low risk” using maximally selected Log-Rank statistics by Hothorn and Lausen, as method for optimal cut-off. Kaplan-Meier curves, Log-Rank test and Breslow test were used to ascertain statistical differences in the probability of DFS between high and low risk groups. MiRNA targeted genes were selected and used to perform functional enrichment analysis with the KEGG pathway database. To select significant terms/pathways, p-values were adjusted by the Benjamini-Hochberg method (p < 0.05). Results: MiR-A and miR-B expression was higher in primary tumor of patients who relapse compared to those free of disease after treatment (p = 0.018 and 0.004, respectively). Both miRNAs were strongly correlated (r = 0.84). This signature was significantly associated with relapse of the disease (HR 1.72; CI 95%: 1.243–2.382; p < 0.01, AIC = 114.02). The optimal cut-off of this score was obtained and patients were classified into high and low risk groups. Median DFS of the high-risk was 44 months while it has been not reached yet across the low risk after a median follow-up of 67 months (HR 8.39; p = 0.005, AIC = 111.784). Significant differences in survival between both groups were found (log rank test p < 0.001; Breslow test p = 0.002). miR-A and miR-B functional enrichment analysis returned 55 significant pathways. Interestingly, P53 pathway, apoptosis and cell cycle which are closely related to tumorigenesis and treatment response, were in the top 5 enriched pathways. Conclusions: Both miRNAs included in this signature are related to important biological pathways associated to BC progression. Our new prognostic signature identifies patients with early-stage, HER2+ BC who might be candidates for escalated or de-escalated systemic treatment. This signature was able to classify patients for DFS in high or low risk groups at the moment of BC diagnosis. Further investigations to validate the value of this new signature are on-going.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to describe the economic impact of recurrences (locoregional or unresectable/metastatic recurrences [MR]) in patients with HER2+ breast cancer (BC) in Spain. METHODS: A Delphi panel of 15 Spanish oncologists was carried out to define the clinical management (patients' flow and healthcare resources use) of locoregional recurrences (LR) and unresectable or MR in patients with HER2+ BC. Healthcare resources included medication, medical visits, lab and imaging tests, hospitalizations, surgery, adverse events management and treatment of specific metastases (e.g. bone metastases). Additionally, loss of productivity was also estimated. Local unit costs where used in combination with healthcare resources and workdays lost to estimate both the direct and indirect costs of LR and MR in HER2+ BC patients. A deterministic sensitivity analysis was performed to explore the robustness and assess the critical variables of the study. RESULTS: The estimated distribution of recurrences in HER2+ BC patients was: 90% of MR, 7% of LR and 3% of LR followed by an MR. With respect to MRs, 31% of cases were estimated to receive up to 5 lines of treatment whilst 5% received no treatment (10%, 20% and 21% would receive 2, 3 and 4 treatment lines, respectively, with a median of 3 lines). Treatment regimens including trastuzumab were the most frequently used (in combination with pertuzumab and taxane in 1L, and with other combinations in 4&5L). In 3L, the most common treatment regimen was lapatinib-capecitabine. Total costs, including medical and indirect costs were €235,138, being the direct costs more than 88.7% (€208,682). Both direct and total costs were higher in patients being treated with a higher number of treatment lines, with figures ranging from €38,511 (1L) to €308,869 (5L) and €50,908 (1L) and €358,000 (5L) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: HER2+ BC patients with a MR were estimated to receive a median of 3 treatment lines and almost one third receives 5 treatment lines. The direct and indirect costs of recurrences are high, with a calculated average total cost of €235,138. Using targeted therapies in earlier stages of HER2+ BC that achieve a reduction of recurrences would achieve significant cost savings in Spain. Citation Format: Colomer R, Ciruelos E, De la Haba J, Martín M, De Salas-Cansado M, Muñoz-Molina B, Albanell J. Estimating costs of relapsing HER2+ breast cancer in Spain [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-12-05.

Background: Meta-analysis of clinical trials has shown that adjuvant bisphosphonates reduce bone metastases and improve survival in postmenopausal (PM) pts1. However, we are unable to select pts most likely to benefit. To address this, the recently identified early breast cancer bone relapse biomarker, 16q23(MAF) gain (MAF+)2, was tested retrospectively in the large prospectively randomized AZURE trial3 of standard adjuvant therapy +/- zoledronic acid (ZOL) to determine the prognostic value of MAF and its potential to predict the effects of ZOL on disease outcomes. Materials and methods: All analyses were performed with ethics approval and consent. The biomarker analysis was completed on TMAs from primary tumors. Quadruplicate cores of breast tumor tissue were arrayed across replicate TMAs. MAF+ was detected using a validated (MAF/D16Z3) FISH test (Inbiomotion SL, Barcelona, Spain). A central laboratory (Targos, Kassel, Germany) validated the assay for analytic and diagnostic performance, established acceptance criteria, included appropriate quality controls for each assay, and performed the analyses in a blinded fashion. A copy number cut-off ≥2.5 was preset for MAF+. Invasive disease free (IDFS), overall (OS) survival and time to bone metastases multivariate analyses were performed in control and ZOL pts separately. Subsequently, interactions between MAF+ and effects of ZOL on disease outcomes by menopausal status were evaluated. Results: 1769 of the 3360 AZURE pts donated primary tumor samples. Median follow-up was 84 months. 865 pts (49%) had 2 FISH evaluable cores and were included in the analysis of which 184 (21%) had MAF+ tumors. Tumors that were MAF+ were more likely to be of higher grade, ER-ve and Her2+. In control pts, MAF was not prognostic for IDFS or OS although there were differences in IDFS by menopause (HR for MAF-/MAF+ in PM=0.47 [95%CI 0.25-0.88]; HR in non-PM=1.58 [0.82-3.03], test for interaction (TFI) by menopause P=0.007). In ZOL pts, MAF was prognostic for IDFS (HR=0.52 [0.36-0.75] and OS (HR=0.48 [0.31-0.75]). There were insufficient bone events (19 MAF+, 73 MAF-) in this sample set to reliably assess the impact of MAF+ on relapse in bone. In pts with MAF- tumors, ZOL was associated with improved IDFS (HR=0.74 [0.56-0.98]) and OS (HR=0.78 [0.55-1.10]). However, the effects of ZOL in MAF+ were profoundly influenced by menopausal status with possibly better outcomes in PM women (HR for IDFS=0.74 [0.35-1.58]) but clearly worse IDFS and OS outcomes in ZOL treated MAF+ pts who were non-PM (HR for IDFS 2.46 [1.23-4.92], TFI by treatment P=0.002 and HR for OS=2.27 [1.04-4.93], TFI by treatment P=0.032). The interactions between disease outcomes, ZOL use and menopause were driven largely by an association between MAF+ and an increased risk of extra-skeletal recurrence with the use of ZOL in women who were not PM. Conclusions: Absence of MAF amplification is associated with improved disease outcomes with adjuvant ZOL. However, the use of adjuvant ZOL in women with MAF+ tumors who are not PM at the start of treatment is associated with extraskeletal spread and worse DFS and OS. 1EBCTCG Lancet 2015;386:1353–1361; 2Pavlovic M et al JNCI 2015;107(12):djv256; 3Coleman RE et al Lancet Oncol 2014;15:997-1006. Citation Format: Coleman R, Hall A, Bell R, Cameron D, Marshall H, Jean-Mairet J, Tercero J, Rojo F, Albanell J, Gomis R. Impact of MAF gene amplification on disease recurrence and effects of adjuvant zoledronic acid in early breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-09-01.

Background: Inhibition of HER2 and HER3 heterodimerisation is a novel treatment concept in HER2-”low” expressing breast cancer (BC). Lumretuzumab, a glycoengineered monoclonal anti-HER3 antibody, in combination with pertuzumab has demonstrated synergistic anti-tumor activity in preclinical HER2–low expressing preclinical BC models. Methods: This open-label, multicenter phase I study selectively enrolled metastatic BC patients (pts) expressing HER3 protein and low levels of HER2 (defined as IHC 1+ and 2+ and ISH-negative) in a formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded pretreatment tumor biopsy sample. Eligible pts were treated with a combination of paclitaxel (PA) qw plus lumretuzumab (L) and pertuzumab (P) q3w in three dose cohorts. The safety, antitumor activity and tumor biomarkers including protein expression (IHC, MS) and mutational data (NGS) in association with clinical activity were evaluated. Results: Overall, 35 pts were included in this study. The median age was 60 (range: 33 to 77) years. The median number of prior treatments for metastatic disease ranged from 0 to 5 with 23 pts (65.7%) without prior chemotherapy for metastatic disease. Cohort 1 was treated with PA at 80 mg/m2, L at 1000 mg and P at 840 mg for Cycle 1 followed by 420 mg for the following cycles. This cohort was stopped after two pts both experienced grade 3 diarrhea within the first treatment cycle which was considered a dose-limiting toxicity (DLT). For Cohort 2 the dose of L was reduced to 500 mg based on PK modelling and simulation data. No DLTs were seen for the first 6 pts. A total of 20 pts were recruited with an objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) of 30% and 75%, respectively, and 56% and 78%, respectively, for 1st-line pts (n=9) in this cohort. Diarrhea (≥G3) and hypokalemia (≥G3) occurred in 50% and 55% of pts, respectively, and all pts experienced chronic diarrhea throughout the course of treatment. For Cohort 3 the dose of L was maintained at 500 mg, PA at 80 mg/m2, and P was administered at 420 mg at all cycles. In addition, a prophylactic loperamide regimen was introduced. Altogether, 13 pts - all 1st-line for metastatic disease - were treated. No DLTs were seen for the first 6 pts. Diarrhea (≥G3) and hypokalemia (≥G3) were reduced to 31% and 15%, respectively, but chronic diarrhea was still observed throughout the treatment in all pts. The ORR and DCR were 31% and 77%, respectively. Preliminary mechanistic safety experiments revealed HER2/HER3-dependent chloride channels in the intestine as likely cause of diarrhea. Biomarker data will be presented along with updated clinical and safety data. Conclusions: The combination of L, P and PA was associated with high rates of persistent diarrhea. Dose modifications and prophylactic anti-diarrheal medication led to significantly reduced diarrhea intensity but did not change the incidence and persistence of diarrhea overall. Despite encouraging clinical activity especially in 1st line pts, the therapeutic window of this combination is too low to warrant further clinical development. Citation Format: Schneeweiss A, Park-Simon T-W, Albanell J, Lassen U, Cortes J, Dieras V, May M, Schindler C, Marmé F, Cejalvo JM, Martinez-Garcia M, Gonzalez I, Lopez-Martin J, Welt A, Joly F, Michielin F, Jacob W, Adessi C, Moisan A, Meneses-Lorente G, James I, Ceppi M, Hasmann M, Weisser M, Cervantes A. Phase Ib study evaluating the safety and clinical activity of lumretuzumab combined with pertuzumab and paclitaxel in HER2-low metastatic breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-11-13.

PURPOSE: Limited knowledge exists on the detection of breast cancer stem cell (BCSC)-related mutations in circulating free DNA (cfDNA) from patients with advanced cancers. Identification of new cancer biomarkers may allow for earlier detection of disease progression and treatment strategy modifications. METHODS: We conducted a prospective study to determine the feasibility and prognostic utility of droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR)-based BCSC gene mutation analysis of cfDNA in patients with breast cancer. RESULTS: Detection of quantitative BCSC gene mutation in cfDNA by ddPCR mirrors disease progression and thus may represent a valuable and cost-effective measure of tumor burden. We have previously shown that hematological and neurological expressed 1-like (HN1L), ribosomal protein L39 (RPL39), and myeloid leukemia factor 2 (MLF2) are novel targets for BCSC self-renewal, and targeting these genetic alterations could be useful for personalized genomic-based therapy. CONCLUSION: BCSC mutation detection in cfDNA may have important implications for diagnosis, prognosis, and serial monitoring.

The mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance in triple negative breast cancer remain unclear, and so, new molecules which might mediate this resistance could optimize treatment response. Here we analyzed the involvement of the miRNA-449 family in the response to doxorubicin. The cell viability, cell-cycle phases, and the expression of in silico target genes and proteins of sensitive/resistant triple negative breast cancer cell lines were evaluated in response to doxorubicin treatment and after gain/loss of miRNAs-449 function achieved by transient transfection. Triple negative breast cancer patients were selected for ex vivo experiments and to evaluate gene and miRNAs expression changes after treatment, as well as survival analysis by Kaplan-Meier. Doxorubicin treatment upregulated miRNAs-449 and DNA-damage responder factors E2F1 and E2F3 in triple negative breast cancer sensitive breast cancer cells, while expression remained unaltered in resistant ones. In vitro overexpression of miRNAs-449 sensitized cells to the treatment and significantly reduced the resistance to doxorubicin. These changes showed also a strong effect on cell cycle regulation. Finally, elevated levels of miRNA-449a associated significantly with better survival in chemotherapy-treated triple negative breast cancer patients. These results reveal for the first time the involvement of the miRNA-449 family in doxorubicin resistance and their predictive and prognostic value in triple negative breast cancer patients.

Advanced bladder cancer is associated with a poor prognosis and limited treatment options. The PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway is frequently activated in this disease and can be a potential therapeutic target for treatment intervention. We studied the antitumor efficacy of a new targeted therapy, TAK-228 (oral mTORC1/2 inhibitor), in preclinical models of bladder cancer. We evaluated the effects of TAK-228 in combination with a PI3Kα inhibitor (TAK-117) or with chemotherapy (paclitaxel). We used six bladder cancer cell lines and in vivo xenografts models. TAK-228 strongly inhibited cell proliferation in vitro, and reduced tumor growth and angiogenesis in vivo. Three possible biomarkers of response to TAK-228 (basal levels of 4E-BP1, p-4E-BP1/4E-BP1 ratio, or eIF4E/4E-BP1 ratio) were identified. The combination of TAK-228 and TAK-117 had synergistic effects in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, TAK-228 demonstrated greater efficiency when combined with paclitaxel. TAK-228 also showed ex vivo activity in tumor tissue from patients with treatment-naïve bladder cancer. TAK-228 is a promising investigational agent that induces a strong effect on cell proliferation, tumor growth, and angiogenesis in bladder cancer models. High synergistic effects were observed with TAK-228 combined with a PI3K inhibitor or with chemotherapy. These results are currently being investigated in a clinic trial of TAK-228 plus paclitaxel in patients with metastatic bladder cancer (NCT03745911). Implications: Strong synergistic effects were observed when combining TAK-228 with TAK-117 (a PI3Kα inhibitor) or with paclitaxel chemotherapy. A phase II study at our institution is currently evaluating the efficacy of TAK-228 combined with paclitaxel in patients with metastatic bladder cancer.

Advanced prostate and bladder cancer are two outstanding unmet medical needs for urological oncologists. The high prevalence of these tumours, lack of effective biomarkers and limited effective treatment options highlight the importance of basic research in these diseases. Galectins are a family of β-galactoside-binding proteins that are frequently altered (upregulated or downregulated) in a wide range of tumours and have roles in different stages of tumour development and progression, including immune evasion. In particular, altered expression levels of different members of the galectin family have been reported in prostate and bladder cancers, which, together with the aberrant glycosylation patterns found in tumour cells and the constituent cell types of the tumour microenvironment, can result in malignant transformation and tumour progression. Understanding the roles of galectin family proteins in the development and progression of prostate and bladder cancer could yield key insights to inform the clinical management of these diseases., This work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness/ISCIII-FEDER (PI14/00125 and PI17/00199), an AECC-Cataluña 2015 grant and the Generalitat de Catalunya (2014/SGR/143 and 2017/SGR/225) grant to P.N.

Background: Changes in the clinical subtype (CS) and intrinsic subtype (IS) between breast cancer (BC) metastases and corresponding primary tumours have been reported. However, their relationship with tumour genomic changes remains poorly characterised. Here, we analysed the association between genomic remodelling and subtype conversion in paired primary and metastatic BC samples. Methods: A total of 57 paired primary and metastatic tumours from GEICAM/2009-03 (ConvertHER, NCT01377363) study participants with centrally assessed CS (n = 57) and IS (n = 46) were analysed. Targeted capture and next-generation sequencing of 202 genes on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples was performed. The cancer cell fraction (CCF) of mutations in primary and metastatic pairs was estimated as a surrogate of tumour clonal architecture. Changes in mutation CCF between matched primary and metastatic tumours were analysed in the presence or absence of subtype conversion. Findings: CS conversion occurred in 24.6% and IS conversion occurred in 36.9% of metastases. Primary tumours and metastases had a median of 11 (range, 3-29) and 9 (range, 1-38) mutations, respectively (P = 0.05). Overall, mutations in metastases showed a higher estimated CCF than in primary tumours (median CCF, 0.51 and 0.47, respectively; P = 0.042), consistent with increased clonal homogeneity. The increase in mutation CCF was significant in CS-converted (P = 0.04) but not in IS-converted (P = 0.48) metastases. Clonal remodelling was highest in metastases from hormone receptorepositive and human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2)-positive tumours (P = 0.006). Conclusions(1): Mutations in BC metastases showed significantly higher estimated CCF than primary tumours. CCF changes were more prominent in metastases with CS conversion. Our findings suggest that changes in BC subtypes are linked to clonal remodelling during BC evolution. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Natural killer (NK) cells can orchestrate effective antitumor immunity. The presence of tumor-infiltrating NK cells in diagnostic biopsies predicts pathologic complete response (pCR) to HER2-specific therapeutic antibodies in patients with primary breast cancer. Here, we analyzed whether diversity in circulating NK cells might influence tumor infiltration and HER2-specific therapeutic antibody efficacy. We found that numbers of circulating CD57+ NK cells inversely correlated with pCR to HER2-specific antibody treatment in patients with primary breast cancer independently of age, traditional clinicopathologic factors, and CD16A 158F/V genotype. This association was uncoupled from the expression of other NK-cell receptors, the presence of adaptive NK cells, or changes in major T-cell subsets, reminiscent of cytomegalovirus-induced immunomodulation. NK-cell activation against trastuzumab-coated HER2+ breast cancer cells was comparable in patients with high and low proportions of CD57+ NK cells. However, circulating CD57+ NK cells displayed decreased CXCR3 expression and CD16A-induced IL2-dependent proliferation in vitro. Presence of CD57+ NK cells was reduced in breast tumor–associated infiltrates as compared with paired peripheral blood samples, suggesting deficient homing, proliferation, and/or survival of NK cells in the tumor niche. Indeed, numbers of circulating CD57+ were inversely related to tumor-infiltrating NK-cell numbers. Our data reveal that NK-cell differentiation influences their antitumor potential and that CD57+ NK cells may be a biomarker useful for tailoring HER2 antibody–based therapeutic strategies in breast cancer.

Background. Immunotherapy has shown efficacy in small cell lung cancer (SCLC), but only a subset of patients benefits. Surrogate biomarkers are urgently needed. Our aim was to evaluate serum Th1, Th2, and proinflammatory cytokines in two cohorts of SCLC patients before and during treatment with chemotherapy with or without ipilimumab and to correlate them with survival.Patients and methods. Two cohorts of SCLC patients were studied: patients treated with chemotherapy (n = 47), and patients treated with chemotherapy plus ipilimumab (n = 37). Baseline, on-treatment and after-treatment serum samples were evaluated for the presence of IL-1beta, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, GM-CSF, and Mip-1alpha using a Luminex assay. Differential changes in cytokines between cohorts were analyzed. Associations between cytokine levels and their changes with overall survival were evaluated.Results. Patients treated with ipilimumab showed a global increase of all cytokines after treatment initiation. A high level of IL-8 at baseline was associated with worse prognosis regardless of treatment. Baseline increased IL-2 levels predicted sensitivity to ipilimumab, while high IL-6 and TNF-alpha predicted resistance. An on-treatment increase in IL-4 levels in patients treated with immune-chemotherapy was associated with a better overall survival.Conclusions. The addition of ipilimumab to standard chemotherapy in SCLC modulates the serum levels of cytokines. Baseline levels and their change over time relate to overall survival. Blood-based biomarkers are convenient for patients, and our results support prospective validation of cytokines as predictive biomarkers for ipilimumab in SCLC.

PURPOSE: The 21-gene Recurrence Score assay (Oncotype DX) provides prognostic/predictive information in oestrogen receptor positive (ER+) early breast cancer, but access/reimbursement has been limited in most European countries in the absence of prospective outcome data. Recently, two large prospective studies and a real-life 5-year outcome study have been reported. We performed a pooled analysis of prospective European impact studies to generate robust data on impact of use in different clinical subgroups. METHODS: The analysis included four studies (French, German, Spanish, and British) in ER+ human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative breast cancer patients (n = 527). Node-positive patients were excluded. RESULTS: The analysis demonstrated that treatment recommendations changed in 32% of patients post-testing; chemotherapy recommendation rate decreased from 55% to 34%. Change rates in the individual studies ranged from 30% to 37%. The highest change rates were in patients originally recommended chemotherapy and in grade II tumours; there was no subgroup without a treatment recommendation change. Notably, 31% of patients with an intermediate Recurrence Score result had a treatment recommendation change suggesting that testing provides actionable information in this group. With the exception of the German study (where chemotherapy rates remained high [41%] post-testing), between-study variability in treatment recommendations decreased post-testing (chemotherapy: from 36-52% to 26-29%; hormonal therapy: from 48-64% to 71-74%). Physicians' confidence regarding treatment recommendations improved in all the studies after testing. CONCLUSION: Recurrence Score testing led to changes in adjuvant chemotherapy use in approximately a third of patients, to an overall reduced chemotherapy use, and to more homogeneous decision making. J.A. acknowledges FIS PI12/00680 RD12/0036/0051, 2014SGR740 intensification grant ISCIII, and A Ll./nPI12/01421 and RD12/0036/0070.

Background: NF-κB signalling appears deregulated in breast tumours. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the non-canonical NF-κB pathway, is activated in oestrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer, to identify any correlation between its activity and the clinico-pathological phenotype and to explore whether NF-κB2 and RelB subunits and/or any of their target genes might be used as a predictive marker. Methods: Two independent cohorts of ER+ early breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy were included in the study. Activation of RelB and NF-κB2 subunits was determined in a training set of 121 patients by measuring DNA-binding activities in nuclear extracts from fresh frozen specimens by an ELISA-based assay. Samples of 15 ER− breast cancer patients were also included in the study. In a large validation cohort of 207 patients, nuclear immunostaining of RelB and NF-κB2 on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded specimens was performed. Statistical correlation within clinico-pathological factors, disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) was evaluated. Publicly available gene expression and survival data have been interrogated aimed to identify target genes. Results: Activation of NF-κB2 and RelB was found in 53.7 and 49.2% of the 121 ER+ tumours analysed, with similar levels to ER− breast tumours analysed in parallel for comparisons. In the validation cohort, we obtained a similar proportion of cases with activation of NF-κB2 and RelB (59.9 and 32.4%), with a 39.6% of co-activation. Multiplexing immunofluorescence in breast cancer tissue confirmed an inverse spatial distribution of ER with NF-κB2 and RelB nuclear expression in tumour cells. Interestingly, NF-κB2 and RelB mRNA expression was inversely correlated with ER gene (ESR1) levels (P

Background Trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) exhibited enhanced antitumor activity when combined with docetaxel or pertuzumab in preclinical studies. This phase Ib/IIa study assessed the feasibility of T-DM1 + docetaxel in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) and T-DM1 + docetaxel ± pertuzumab in patients with HER2-positive locally advanced breast cancer (LABC). Patients and methods Phase Ib (part 1) explored dose escalation, with T-DM1 + docetaxel administered for greater than or equal to six cycles in patients with MBC. Phase Ib (part 2) began with the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) identified in part 1. Patients with LABC were administered less than or equal to six cycles of T-DM1 + docetaxel or T-DM1 + docetaxel + pertuzumab. Phase IIa explored the MTDs identified in phase Ib. Results Administered with T-DM1 (3.6 mg/kg), the docetaxel MTD was 60 mg/m2 in MBC. In LABC, the MTD was 100 mg/m2 docetaxel in combination with T-DM1 (3.6 mg/kg), given with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF). Administered with T-DM1 (3.6 mg/kg) + pertuzumab (840 mg, cycle 1; 420 mg, subsequent cycles), the docetaxel MTD in LABC was 75 mg/m2 with G-CSF support. Neutropenia was the most common grade 3–4 adverse event (AE; MBC, 72% and LABC, 29%). In total, 48% (12/25) of MBC patients and 47% (34/73) of LABC patients experienced AEs requiring dose modification. In MBC (median prior systemic agents = 5), the objective response rate was 80.0% (20/25; 95% confidence interval [CI] 59.3–93.2) and the median progression-free survival was 13.8 months (range, 1.6–33.5). The pathologic complete response (ypT0/is, ypN0) rate in LABC was 60.3% (44/73; 95% CI 48.1–71.5). Pharmacokinetic analyses indicated a low risk of drug–drug interaction between T-DM1 and docetaxel. Conclusions T-DM1 combined with docetaxel ± pertuzumab appeared efficacious in MBC or LABC; however, nearly half of patients experienced AEs requiring dose reductions with these T-DM1 combinations. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00934856.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the progression of bone mineral density (BMD) during 3 years of aromatase inhibitors (AI) therapy in actual practice conditions. This prospective, clinical cohort study of Barcelona–Aromatase induced Bone Loss in Early breast cancer (B-ABLE) assessed BMD changes during 3 years of AI treatment in women with breast cancer. Patients with osteoporosis (T score < −2.5 or T score ≤ −2.0) and a major risk factor and/or prevalent fragility fractures were treated with oral bisphosphonates (BPs). Of 685 women recruited, 179 (26.1%) received BP treatment. By the third year of AI therapy, this group exhibited increased BMD in the lumbar spine (LS; 2.59%) and femoral neck (FN; 2.50%), although the increase was significant only within the first year (LS: 1.99% and FN: 2.04%). Despite BP therapy, however, approximately 15% of these patients lost more than 3% of their baseline bone mass. At 3 years, patients without BP experienced BMD decreases in the LS (−3.10%) and FN (−2.79%). In this group, BMD changes occurred during the first (LS: −1.33% and FN: −1.25%), second (LS: −1.19% and FN: −0.82%), and third (LS: −0.57% and FN: −0.65%) years of AI treatment. Increased BMD (>3%) was observed in just 7.6% and 10.8% of these patients at the LS and FN, respectively. Our data confirm a clinically relevant bone loss associated with AI therapy amongst nonusers of preventative BPs. We further report on the importance of BMD monitoring as well as calcium and 25-hydroxy vitamin D supplementation in these patients.

Background Trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1), a new agent developed for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer, is an antibody-drug conjugate with a complex compound obtained by the conjugation of trastuzumab, a stable thioether linker, and the potent cytotoxic drug maytansine-derivate(DM1), which inhibits cell division and induces cell death. Field of study PubMed database, ESMO, ASCO, San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium Meeting abstracts and clinicaltrials.gov were searched using the terms “Anti-HER2 treatment breast cancer and trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) “; papers considered relevant for the aim of this review were selected. Findings/results The phase I trials have determined the safe dosing range of T-DM1, established at 3.6 mg/kg every 3 weeks. The phase III randomized EMILIA and TR3RESA trials have shown that T-DM1 provides objective tumor responses and significantly improves progression free survival and overall survival in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients previously treated with anti-HER2-based regimens. The ongoing phase III trials KAITLIN and KATHERINE will give us further information about the place T-DM1 should occupy in the treatment of patients with early stage HER2-positive breast cancer. In this review we analyze the most relevant clinical trials conducted with T-DM1 and the role of this compound in the management of advanced breast cancer. Conclusion T-DM1 has shown clinically relevant activity in the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer patients after progression on trastuzumab and taxane based therapy, both in the second line treatment setting and after early relapse on adjuvant trastuzumab therapy. This is accompanied by a favorable safety and tolerability profile.

1007 Background: The CDK4/6 inhibitor palbociclib (P) in combination with letrozole (L) has become a standard first-line treatment for patients (pts) with luminal metastatic breast cancer (MBC) (PALOMA-1 & 2 trials). Meanwhile, the anti-estrogen fulvestrant (F) showed to be superior to anastrozole in the same population (FALCON trial). We aimed to identify the best endocrine agent to combine with P in this first-line scenario. Methods: A total of 486 pts with ER[+]/HER2[-] MBC with no prior therapy in the advanced setting and endocrine sensitive criteria (relapse > 12 months [mo] after the end of adjuvant endocrine therapy or diagnosed with “de novo” metastatic disease) were randomly assigned (1:1 ratio) to receive P (oral 125 mg/day [d]; 3 wks on/1 wk off) plus F 500 mg/d (I.M Days 0, 14, 28, and then every 28 d) or PL (oral 2.5 mg/d). Pts were stratified by visceral involvement and type of disease presentation (“de novo”/recurrent). Primary endpoint was investigator-assessed progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS), overall response rate (ORR), clinical benefit rate (CBR), and safety. 254 events were needed with 80% power to detect a hazard ratio (HR) ≤0.7 in favor of PF (2-sided α = 0.05). Results: By March 9th, 2020, 256 PFS events occurred. Pts characteristics were well balanced. Median age was 62 years (range: 25–90), 56.6% were ECOG 0, 40.7% had “de novo” metastatic disease, 48% had visceral disease, and 43.6% with ≥3 organ sites involved. At median follow-up of 32 mo, median PFS was 27.9 mo (95% confidence interval [CI], 24.2-33.1) with PF and 32.8 mo (95% CI, 25.8-35.9) with PL (HR: 1.1; 95% CI, 0.9-1.5; P = 0.321). No differences were observed for pts with or without visceral involvement (HR: 1.3 and HR: 0.97 respectively, interaction P = 0.275), and for “de novo” or recurrent metastatic disease (HR: 1.1 and HR: 1.1 respectively, P = 0.979). The 4-year OS rate was 67.6% in PF and 67.5% in PL arm (HR: 1; 95% CI, 0.7-1.5; P = 0.986). No differences were observed in ORR or CBR between arms. Grade ≥3 adverse events were similar in both arms, being neutropenia and leukopenia the most frequent. No treatment-related deaths were reported. Conclusion: This study was not able to identify an improvement in PFS for PF over PL in patients with endocrine-sensitive ER[+]/HER2[-] MBC. As both arms demonstrated comparable 4 years-OS, PF is a reasonable alternative to PL in this setting. Clinical trial information: NCT02491983 .

e24027 Background: Breast cancer is the most prevalent and lethal cancer among women. Forty one percent of cases occur in people ≥ 65 years. Decision on cancer treatment is particularly challenging among this group of age given its comorbidities and polypharmacy (PP). The main objectives are the analysis of potential drug-drug interactions (PDDI) in elderly breast cancer patients between daily medications and oncospecific therapy and their probable associations with age, BMI, Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), frailty and PP and the adverse effects during oncospecific treatment. Methods: A cohort of 77 patients ≥ 70 years with breast cancer underwent a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) by a Geriatrist at a university hospital. Baseline characteristics of the patients, demographical data, cancer stage, and oncospecific and daily treatments, as well as the complications and derived adverse effects were retrospectively collected using electronic medical records. Moreover, frailty categorization, daily medication number, comorbidities, Lawton and Barthel Index, malnutrition, MNA, BMI were prospectively collected using CGA report. PDDI between daily and oncospecific treatments were analyzed. Results: The median age of patients was 85 years (range 72-95). The median number of daily medications at CGA was 6 drugs (range 0-22) and most of the patients had PP at CGA and during oncospecific treatment (73% and 91%, respectively). Out of 719 PDDI, 530 (74%) were moderate ( r2= 0.72) and the median number of drugs during oncospecific treatment ( r2= 0.73) was 9 (range 3-26). Overall, by using Kruskal Wallis, 59 patients (77%) had any adverse effects statistically associated with frailty categorization and MNA ( p < 0.05). Furthermore, there was a tendency with oncospecific treatment, BMI and age ( p = 0.098, 0.089 and 0.062, respectively). The distribution of major, moderate and minor as well as total PDDI was statistically associated with PP at CGA and during oncospecific treatment ( p < 0.05). Conclusions: CGA should be applied in oncology elderly patients not only to assess clinical outcomes and categorize them in each frailty group but also to analyze PDDI by using specific web databases, thereby improving PP, PDDI and economic costs.