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Purpose: To assess the predictive value of molecular breast cancer subtypes in premenopausal patients with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer who received adjuvant endocrine treatment or chemotherapy., Experimental Design: Molecular breast cancer subtypes were centrally assessed on whole tumor sections by IHC in patients of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group Trial 5 who had received either 5 years of tamoxifen/3 years of goserelin or six cycles of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil (CMF). Luminal A disease was defined as Ki67 <20% and luminal B as Ki67 ≥20%. The luminal B/HER2-positive subtype displayed 3+ HER2-IHC or amplification by ISH. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using Cox models adjusted for clinical and pathologic factors., Results: 185 (38%), 244 (50%), and 59 (12%) of 488 tumors were classified as luminal A, luminal B/HER2-negative and luminal B/HER2-positive, respectively. Luminal B subtypes were associated with poor outcome. Patients with luminal B tumors had a significantly shorter RFS [adjusted HR for recurrence: 2.22; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.41-3.49; P = 0.001] and OS (adjusted HR for death: 3.51; 95% CI, 1.80-6.87; P < 0.001). No interaction between molecular subtypes and treatment was observed (test for interaction: P = 0.84 for RFS; P = 0.69 for OS)., Conclusions: Determination of molecular subtypes by IHC is an independent prognostic factor for recurrence and death in premenopausal women with early-stage, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer but is not predictive for outcome of adjuvant treatment with tamoxifen/goserelin or CMF. See related commentary by Hunter et al., p. 5543 ., (©2020 American Association for Cancer Research.)

Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NaCT) and neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NET) can reduce pre-operative tumour burden in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative early-stage breast cancer. This prospective translational study assessed the ability of a 12-gene molecular score (MS; EndoPredict®) to predict response to NaCT or NET within the ABCSG-34 trial., Patients and Methods: Hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative samples from patients in the ABCSG-34 randomized phase II trial were selected and EndoPredict testing was performed to generate a 12-gene MS. ABCSG-34 patients were assigned to receive either NaCT or NET based on menopausal status, HR expression, grade and Ki67. Response was measured by residual cancer burden (RCB)., Results: Patients selected for NaCT generally had high-risk disease by 12-gene MS (125/134), while slightly more patients treated with NET had low-risk disease (44/83). Low-risk NaCT-treated and high-risk NET-treated tumours responded poorly (NPV 100% [95% CI 66.4%-100%] and NPV 92.3% [95% CI 79.1%-98.4%], respectively]. The 12-gene MS significantly predicted treatment response for NaCT (AUC 0.736 [95% CI 0.63-0.84]) and NET (AUC 0.726 [95% CI 0.60-0.85])., Conclusions: The 12-gene MS predicted RCB after treatment with neoadjuvant therapies for patients with HR-positive, HER2-negative early-stage breast cancer. Tumours with low MS were unlikely to benefit from NaCT, whereas a high MS predicted resistance to NET. This additional biologic information can aid personalized treatment selection in daily practice and builds a strong rationale to use EndoPredict in biomarker-driven studies in the neoadjuvant setting., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: In PIK3CA mutant breast cancer, downstream hyperactivation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway may be associated with increased glycolysis of cancer cells. The purpose of this study was to investigate the functional association of PIK3CA mutational status and tumor glycolysis in invasive ER+/HER2- early breast cancer., Procedures: This institutional review board-approved retrospective study included a dataset of 67 ER+/HER2- early breast cancer patients. All patients underwent 2-deoxy-2-[ 18 F]fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography/X-ray computed tomography ([ 18 F]FDG PET/CT) and clinico-pathologic assessments as part of a prospective study. For this retrospective analysis, pyrosequencing was used to detect PIK3CA mutations of exons 4, 7, 9, and 20. Tumor glucose metabolism was assessed semi-quantitatively with [ 18 F]FDG PET/CT using maximum standardized uptake values (SUV max ). SUV max values were corrected for the partial volume effect, and metabolic tumor volume was calculated using the volume of interest automated lesion growing function 2D tumor size, i.e., maximum tumor diameter was assessed on concurrent pre-treatment contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging., Results: PIK3CA mutations were present in 45 % of all tumors. Mutations were associated with a small tumor diameter (p < 0.01) and with low nuclear grade (p = 0.04). Glycolytic activity was positively associated with nuclear grade (p = 0.01), proliferation (p = 0.002), regional lymph node metastasis (p = 0.015), and metabolic tumor volume (p = 0.001) but not with tumor size/T-stage. In invasive ductal carcinomas, median SUV max was increased in PIK3CA-mutated compared to wild-type tumors; however, this increase did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.05). Multivariate analysis of invasive ductal carcinomas revealed [ 18 F]FDG uptake to be independently associated with PIK3CA status (p = 0.002) and nuclear tumor grade (p = 0.046). Size, volume, and regional nodal status had no influence on glycolytic activity. PIK3CA mutational status did not influence glycolytic metabolism in lobular carcinomas. Glycolytic activity and PIK3CA mutational status had no significant influence on recurrence-free survival or disease-specific survival., Conclusions: In ER+/HER2- invasive ductal carcinomas of the breast, glucose uptake is independently associated with PIK3CA mutations. Initial data suggest that [ 18 F]FDG uptake reflects complex genomic alterations and may have the potential to be used as candidate biomarker for monitoring therapeutic response and resistance mechanisms in emerging therapies that target the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway.

Purpose: Prognostic molecular assays may aid in treatment decisions for women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. The prognostic value of a 12-gene expression assay (EndoPredict) was reevaluated in the combined ABCSG-6/8 cohorts with longer clinical follow-up., Experimental Design: EndoPredict (EP; molecular score, EPclin score) was evaluated in women with ER-positive, HER2-negative node-positive and node-negative breast cancer who received 5 years of endocrine therapy only (median follow-up, 9.6 years; N = 1,702). Distant recurrence-free rate (DRFR; 95% confidence interval) was assessed 10 and 15 years after diagnosis., Results: Overall, 62.6% of patients had low-risk EPclin scores with significantly improved DRFR relative to high-risk patients (HR, 4.77; 95% CI, 3.37-6.67; P < 0.0001). Ten-year DRFR (0-10 years) was improved among patients with low-risk versus high-risk EPclin scores in the full cohort [95.5% (94.1%-97.0%) vs. 80.3% (76.9%-83.9%)] as well as for patients with node-negative disease [95.5% (94.0%-97.1%) vs. 87.0% (82.6%-91.7%)] or with 1 to 3 positive nodes [95.6% (92.2%-99.1%) vs. 80.9% (75.9%-86.1%)]. The molecular and EPclin scores were significant predictors of DRFR after adjusting for clinical variables, regardless of nodal status. Similar results were observed for late recurrence (5-15 years; HR, 4.52; 95% CI, 2.65-7.72; P < 0.0001). The EPclin score significantly added prognostic information to a late metastasis nomogram (CTS5 score; P < 0.001)., Conclusions: This study demonstrates that EPclin can identify patients at low risk for early or late recurrence who may safely forgo adjuvant chemotherapy or extended endocrine therapy, respectively, regardless of nodal status., (©2019 American Association for Cancer Research.)

Purpose: To assess the prognostic and predictive value of selected biomarkers involved in cell-cycle regulation or proliferation in patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer. Experimental Design: Protein expression of TOP2A, Ki67, cyclin D1, and p27 was immunohistochemically determined in tissue microarrays of surgical specimens from 862 patients randomized to trastuzumab (1 or 2 years; N = 561) and observation ( N = 301) arms of the HERA trial. The primary analysis endpoint was disease-free survival (DFS). Biomarkers were examined as continuous or categorical variables (predefined cutoffs). Interaction terms between biomarkers and treatment were assessed in multivariate Cox models adjusted for variables of clinical interest. Results: A significant interaction was detected between p27 and treatment (adjusted P = 0.0049). Trastuzumab effect was significant in the p27-low subgroup (≤70% p27-positive tumor cells; N = 318). HR Comb Trast vs. Obs 0.44, 95% CI, 0.29-0.65 ( P < 0.001). No trastuzumab effect was observed in the p27-high subgroup N = 435; HR Comb Trast vs. Obs 0.97, 95% CI, 0.66-1.44, P = 0.89), indicating that these patients derived little or no benefit from trastuzumab treatment. A prognostic effect of p27 on DFS was observed, with p27-high patients experiencing half the hazard of a DFS event compared with low ones (HR p27 High vs. Low 0.49, 95% CI, 0.32-0.75). TOP2A, Ki67, and cyclin D1, as categorical variables were not predictive, whereas cyclin D1 as continuous variable was predictive of trastuzumab benefit. Conclusions: In TransHERA, patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer with low p27 expression in their tumors benefited from trastuzumab treatment, whereas patients with high p27 expression did not. Clin Cancer Res; 24(13); 3079-86. ©2018 AACR ., (©2018 American Association for Cancer Research.)

Purpose: To evaluate whether pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant trastuzumab is dependent on the level of HER2 amplification. Experimental Design: 114 HER2-overexpressing early breast cancer patients who had received neoadjuvant trastuzumab were included in this study. Absolute HER2 and chromosome 17 centromere (CEP17) were measured by in situ hybridization analysis, and associations were examined between HER2/CEP17 ratio and tumor pCR status (commonly defined by ypT0 ypN0, ypT0/is ypN0, and ypT0/is). Results: In trastuzumab-treated patients, ypT0 ypN0 was achieved in 69.0% of patients with high-level amplification (HER2/CEP17 ratio > 6), but only in 30.4% of tumors with low-level amplification (ratio ≤ 6; P = 0.001). When pCR was defined by ypT0/is ypN0 or ypTis, 75.9% and 82.8% of tumors with high-level amplification had a complete response, whereas only 39.1%, and 38.3% with low-level amplification achieved pCR ( P = 0.002 and P < 0.001, respectively). Logistic regression revealed that tumors with high-level amplification had a significantly higher probability achieving ypT0 ypN0 (OR, 5.08; 95% confidence interval, 1.86-13.90; P = 0.002) than tumors with low-level amplification, whereas no other clinicopathologic parameters were predictive of pCR. The association between high-level HER2 amplification and pCR was almost exclusively confined to hormone receptor (HR)-positive tumors (ypT0 ypN0: 62.5% vs. 24.0%, P = 0.014; ypT0/is ypN0: 75.0% vs. 28.0%, P = 0.005; and ypT0/is: 87.5% vs. 28.0%, P < 0.001), and was largely absent in HR-negative tumors. Conclusions: An HER2/CEP17 ratio of >6 in the pretherapeutic tumor biopsy is associated with a significantly higher pCR rate, particularly in HER2/HR copositive tumors, and can be used as a biomarker to predict response before neoadjuvant trastuzumab is initiated. Clin Cancer Res; 23(14); 3676-83. ©2017 AACR ., (©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.)

Background: The aim of this study was to examine whether EndoPredict (EP), a novel genomic expression test, is effective in predicting local recurrence (LR)-free survival (LRFS) following surgery for breast cancer in postmenopausal women. In addition, we examined whether EP may help tailor local therapy in these patients., Methods: From January 1996 to June 2004, 3714 postmenopausal patients were randomly assigned to either tamoxifen or tamoxifen followed by anastrozole within the prospective ABCSG 8 trial. Using assay scores from EP, we classified breast tumour blocks as either low or high risk for recurrence., Results: Data were gathered from 1324 patients. The median follow-up was 72.3 months and the cumulative incidence of LR was 2.6% (0.4% per year). The risk of LR over a 10-year period among patients with high-risk lesions (n=683) was significantly higher (LRFS=91%) when compared with patients with low-risk lesions (n=641) (10-year LRFS=97.5%) (HR: 1.31 (1.16-1.48) P<0.005). The groups that received breast conservation surgery (BCT) and mastectomy (MX) had similar LR rates (P=0.879). Radiotherapy (RT) after BCT significantly improved LRFS in the cohorts predicted by EP to be low-risk for LR (received RT: n=436, 10-year LRFS 99.8%; did not receive RT: n=63, 10-year LRFS 83.6%, P<0.005)., Conclusions: EndoPredict is an effective prognostic tool for predicting LRFS. Among postmenopausal, low-risk patients, EP does not appear to be useful for tailoring local therapy.

Aim: The mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (MET) is a receptor tyrosine kinase that plays a key role in cell survival, growth, angiogenesis and metastasis. Because its expression is frequently altered in tumors, MET is currently under investigation as a potential target for anticancer therapy. The purpose of the present study was to determine the prognostic value of tumor MET expression levels in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer, in order to strengthen the rationale for targeted therapy using MET inhibitors in this breast cancer subpopulation., Materials and Methods: We determined the expression of MET in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded surgical specimens of ER- and HER2-positive breast cancer by immunohistochemistry., Results: Comparisons of MET expression with clinical parameters, including survival of the patients, were performed with MET expression as a dichotomized variable classified as high or low. Out of 78 tumors, 3 (3.8%) showed high MET expression. The analysis examining the association between MET and survival did not yield any statistically significant result regarding overall survival or disease-free survival., Conclusion: ER- and HER2-positive breast carcinomas do not exhibit high MET expression. This null finding, the first to be reported in the literature, is of great importance, since it indicates that this sub-group population is not proper candidate for clinical trials with MET inhibitors.

Background: ER+/HER2- breast cancers have a proclivity for late recurrence. A personalised estimate of relapse risk after 5 years of endocrine treatment can improve patient selection for extended hormonal therapy., Methods: A total of 1702 postmenopausal ER+/HER2- breast cancer patients from two adjuvant phase III trials (ABCSG6, ABCSG8) treated with 5 years of endocrine therapy participated in this study. The multigene test EndoPredict (EP) and the EPclin score (which combines EP with tumour size and nodal status) were predefined in independent training cohorts. All patients were retrospectively assigned to risk categories based on gene expression and on clinical parameters. The primary end point was distant metastasis (DM). Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis were used in an early (0-5 years) and late time interval (>5 years post diagnosis)., Results: EP is a significant, independent, prognostic parameter in the early and late time interval. The expression levels of proliferative and ER signalling genes contribute differentially to the underlying biology of early and late DM. The EPclin stratified 64% of patients at risk after 5 years into a low-risk subgroup with an absolute 1.8% of late DM at 10 years of follow-up., Conclusion: The EP test provides additional prognostic information for the identification of early and late DM beyond what can be achieved by combining the commonly used clinical parameters. The EPclin reliably identified a subgroup of patients who have an excellent long-term prognosis after 5 years of endocrine therapy. The side effects of extended therapy should be weighed against this projected outcome.

Background: In early estrogen receptor (ER)-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer, the decision to administer chemotherapy is largely based on prognostic criteria. The combined molecular/clinical EndoPredict test (EPclin) has been validated to accurately assess prognosis in this population. In this study, the clinical relevance of EPclin in relation to well-established clinical guidelines is assessed., Patients and Methods: We assigned risk groups to 1702 ER-positive/HER2-negative postmenopausal women from two large phase III trials treated only with endocrine therapy. Prognosis was assigned according to National Comprehensive Cancer Center Network-, German S3-, St Gallen guidelines and the EPclin. Prognostic groups were compared using the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis., Results: After 10 years, absolute risk reductions (ARR) between the high- and low-risk groups ranged from 6.9% to 11.2% if assigned according to guidelines. It was at 18.7% for EPclin. EPclin reassigned 58%-61% of women classified as high-/intermediate-risk (according to clinical guidelines) to low risk. Women reclassified to low risk showed a 5% rate of distant metastasis at 10 years., Conclusion: The EPclin score is able to predict favorable prognosis in a majority of patients that clinical guidelines would assign to intermediate or high risk. EPclin may reduce the indications for chemotherapy in ER-positive postmenopausal women with a limited number of clinical risk factors.

Gene expression profiles provide important information about the biology of breast tumors and can be used to develop prognostic tests. However, the implementation of quantitative RNA-based testing in routine molecular pathology has not been accomplished, so far. The EndoPredict assay has recently been described as a quantitative RT-PCR-based multigene expression test to identify a subgroup of hormone-receptor-positive tumors that have an excellent prognosis with endocrine therapy only. To transfer this test from bench to bedside, it is essential to evaluate the test-performance in a multicenter setting in different molecular pathology laboratories. In this study, we have evaluated the EndoPredict (EP) assay in seven different molecular pathology laboratories in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. A set of ten formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumors was tested in the different labs, and the variance and accuracy of the EndoPredict assays were determined using predefined reference values. Extraction of a sufficient amount of RNA and generation of a valid EP score was possible for all 70 study samples (100%). The EP scores measured by the individual participants showed an excellent correlation with the reference values, respectively, as reflected by Pearson correlation coefficients ranging from 0.987 to 0.999. The Pearson correlation coefficient of all values compared to the reference value was 0.994. All laboratories determined EP scores for all samples differing not more than 1.0 score units from the pre-defined references. All samples were assigned to the correct EP risk group, resulting in a sensitivity and specificity of 100%, a concordance of 100%, and a kappa of 1.0. Taken together, the EndoPredict test could be successfully implemented in all seven participating laboratories and is feasible for reliable decentralized assessment of gene expression in luminal breast cancer.

Purpose: According to current guidelines, molecular tests predicting the outcome of breast cancer patients can be used to assist in making treatment decisions after consideration of conventional markers. We developed and validated a gene expression signature predicting the likelihood of distant recurrence in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy., Experimental Design: RNA levels assessed by quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor tissue were used to calculate a risk score (Endopredict, EP) consisting of eight cancer-related and three reference genes. EP was combined with nodal status and tumor size into a comprehensive risk score, EPclin. Both prespecified risk scores including cutoff values to determine a risk group for each patient (low and high) were validated independently in patients from two large randomized phase III trials [Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG)-6: n = 378, ABCSG-8: n = 1,324]., Results: In both validation cohorts, continuous EP was an independent predictor of distant recurrence in multivariate analysis (ABCSG-6: P = 0.010, ABCSG-8: P < 0.001). Combining Adjuvant!Online, quantitative ER, Ki67, and treatment with EP yielded a prognostic power significantly superior to the clinicopathologic factors alone [c-indices: 0.764 vs. 0.750, P = 0.024 (ABCSG-6) and 0.726 vs. 0.701, P = 0.003 (ABCSG-8)]. EPclin had c-indices of 0.788 and 0.732 and resulted in 10-year distant recurrence rates of 4% and 4% in EPclin low-risk and 28% and 22% in EPclin high-risk patients in ABCSG-6 (P < 0.001) and ABCSG-8 (P < 0.001), respectively., Conclusions: The multigene EP risk score provided additional prognostic information to the risk of distant recurrence of breast cancer patients, independent from clinicopathologic parameters. The EPclin score outperformed all conventional clinicopathologic risk factors., (©2011 AACR.)

Background: To improve the prognosis of gallbladder cancer (GC) patients, a better understanding of the mechanisms of tumor development and progression is essential. The deregulation of cell cycle control is a critical step in the development of cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of p21(Wafl/Cip1), p57(Kip2) and HER2/neu in an unselected GC patient population and to assess the association of these markers with p27(Kip1) expression, p53 gene mutation status and clinical parameters of the patients., Patients and Methods: Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues from 55 operated GC patients were used to determine the expression of p21(Wafl/Cip1), p57(Kip2) and HER2/neu with immunohistochemistry., Results: Expression of p21(Wafl/Cip1) was observed in 28%, of p57(Kip2) in 19% and of HER2/neu in 13% of the patients. Absence of p57(Kip2) expression was significantly associated with T3/T4 stage (p = 0.01), positive lymph nodes (p = 0.02) and advanced UICC stages (p = 0.05). HER2/neu expression significantly correlated with advanced T stages (p = 0.02). In the total patient population, p21(Wafl/Cip1), p57(Kip2) and HER2/neu had no impact on survival of the patients. Among patients with a mutated p53 gene, those without p21(Wafl/Cip1) expression had a prolonged survival compared to patients with p21(Wafl/Cip1) expression (p = 0.004). Moreover, in p27(Kip1)-positive patients, those without p21(Wafl/Cip1) expression had a longer survival than those with p21(Wafl/Cip1) expression (p = 0.003)., Conclusion: In the subgroup of patients with a mutated p53 gene or in p27(Kip1)-positive patients, absence of p21(Wafl/Cip1) expression may be associated with longer survival of GC patients. Therefore, further analyses of this protein in larger patient populations are warranted.