Chemotherapy is the only systemic treatment approved for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), with a selection of regimens based on patients' performance status and expected efficacy. The ...establishment of a potent stratification associated with chemotherapeutic efficacy could potentially improve prognosis by tailoring treatments.
Concomitant chemosensitivity and genome-wide RNA profiles were carried out on preclinical models (primary cell cultures and patient-derived xenografts) derived from patients with PDAC included in the PaCaOmics program (NCT01692873). The RNA-based stratification was tested in a monocentric cohort and validated in a multicentric cohort, both retrospectively collected from resected PDAC samples (67 and 368 patients, respectively). Forty-three (65%) and 203 (55%) patients received adjuvant gemcitabine in the monocentric and the multicentric cohorts, respectively. The relationships between predicted gemcitabine sensitivity and patients' overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival were investigated.
The GemPred RNA signature was derived from preclinical models, defining gemcitabine sensitive PDAC as GemPred+. Among the patients who received gemcitabine in the test and validation cohorts, the GemPred+ patients had a higher OS than GemPred− (P = 0.046 and P = 0.00216). In both cohorts, the GemPred stratification was not associated with OS among patients who did not receive gemcitabine. Among gemcitabine-treated patients, GemPred+ patients had significantly higher OS than the GemPred−: 91.3 months 95% confidence interval (CI): 61.2-not reached versus 33 months (95% CI: 24-35.2); hazard ratio 0.403 (95% CI: 0.221-0.735, P = 0.00216). The interaction test for gemcitabine and GemPred+ stratification was significant (P = 0.0245). Multivariate analysis in the gemcitabine-treated population retained an independent predictive value.
The RNA-based GemPred stratification predicts the benefit of adjuvant gemcitabine in PDAC patients.
•An RNA signature of gemcitabine-sensitivity is developed from in vitro and in vivo models of pancreatic cancer.•The resulting GemPred signature identifies a subgroup of patients who are sensitive to adjuvant gemcitabine.•The predictive value of GemPred is validated in two cohorts on both OS and disease-free survival.
After surgical resection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), patients are predominantly treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, commonly consisting of gemcitabine (GEM)-based regimens or the ...modified FOLFIRINOX (mFFX) regimen. While mFFX regimen has been shown to be more effective than GEM-based regimens, it is also associated with higher toxicity. Current treatment decisions are based on patient performance status rather than on the molecular characteristics of the tumor. To address this gap, the goal of this study was to develop drug-specific transcriptomic signatures for personalized chemotherapy treatment.
We used PDAC datasets from preclinical models, encompassing chemotherapy response profiles for the mFFX regimen components. From them we identified specific gene transcripts associated with chemotherapy response. Three transcriptomic artificial intelligence signatures were obtained by combining independent component analysis and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator-random forest approach. We integrated a previously developed GEM signature with three newly developed ones. The machine learning strategy employed to enhance these signatures incorporates transcriptomic features from the tumor microenvironment, leading to the development of the ‘Pancreas-View’ tool ultimately clinically validated in a cohort of 343 patients from the PRODIGE-24/CCTG PA6 trial.
Patients who were predicted to be sensitive to the administered drugs (n = 164; 47.8%) had longer disease-free survival (DFS) than the other patients. The median DFS in the mFFX-sensitive group treated with mFFX was 50.0 months stratified hazard ratio (HR) 0.31, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.21-0.44, P < 0.001 and 33.7 months (stratified HR 0.40, 95% CI 0.17-0.59, P < 0.001) in the GEM-sensitive group when treated with GEM. Comparatively patients with signature predictions unmatched with the treatments (n = 86; 25.1%) or those resistant to all drugs (n = 93; 27.1%) had shorter DFS (10.6 and 10.8 months, respectively).
This study presents a transcriptome-based tool that was developed using preclinical models and machine learning to accurately predict sensitivity to mFFX and GEM.
•Transcriptomic signatures were developed for key pancreatic cancer drugs to enable personalized treatment.•The Pancreas-View tool integrates four drug signatures to assist informed therapeutic decisions.•Signatures accurately identify high responder patients, indicative of improved DFS and cancer-specific survival.•Clinical validation involving a cohort of 343 patients confirms the efficacy of this signature approach.•Transcriptomic signatures that integrate predictors from preclinical models and machine learning offer a rationalized treatment strategy.
•Most patient with pancreatic cancer are treated by chemotherapy.•Treatments selection are not personalized on the tumor characteristics.•Signatures predicting chemotherapy efficiency are essential ...for personalizing treatments.•An RNA signature of gemcitabine-sensitivity is developed leveraged on the dissimilarities between 2D and 3D in vitro models.•Combining different in vitro models can help in defining clinically efficient transcriptomic signatures.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients are frequently treated by chemotherapy. Even if personalized therapy based on molecular analysis can be performed for some tumors, PDAC regimens selection is still mainly based on patients' performance status and expected efficacy. Therefore, the establishment of molecular predictors of chemotherapeutic efficacy could potentially improve prognosis by tailoring treatments. We have recently developed an RNA-based signature that predicts the efficacy of adjuvant gemcitabine using 38 PDAC primary cell cultures. While demonstrated its efficiency, a significant association with the classical/basal-like PDAC spectrum was observed. We hypothesized that this flaw was due to the basal-like biased phenotype of cellular models used in our strategy. To overcome this limitation, we generated a prospective cohort of 27 consecutive biopsied derived pancreatic organoids (BDPO) and include them in the signature identification strategy. As BDPO's do not have the same biased phenotype as primary cell cultures we expect they can compensate one with each other and cover a broader range of molecular phenotypes. We then obtained an improved signature predicting gemcitabine sensibility that was validated in a cohort of 300 resected PDAC patients that have or have not received adjuvant gemcitabine. We demonstrated a significant association between the improved signature and the overall and disease-free survival in patients predicted as sensitive and treated with adjuvant gemcitabine. We propose then that including BDPO along primary cell cultures represent a powerful strategy that helps to overcome primary cell cultures limitations producing unbiased RNA-based signatures predictive of adjuvant treatments in PDAC.
Secretome biomarkers in pancreatic ductual adenocarcinoma Dano, D.; Gayet, O.; Roques, J. ...
Pancreatology : official journal of the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP) ... et al.,
November 2020, 2020-11-00, 20201101, Letnik:
20
Journal Article
Neuronal nerve processes in the tumor microenvironment were highlighted recently. However, the origin of intra-tumoral nerves remains poorly known, in part because of technical difficulties in ...tracing nerve fibers via conventional histological preparations. Here, we employ three-dimensional (3D) imaging of cleared tissues for a comprehensive analysis of sympathetic innervation in a murine model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Our results support two independent, but coexisting, mechanisms: passive engulfment of pre-existing sympathetic nerves within tumors plus an active, localized sprouting of axon terminals into non-neoplastic lesions and tumor periphery. Ablation of the innervating sympathetic nerves increases tumor growth and spread. This effect is explained by the observation that sympathectomy increases intratumoral CD163
macrophage numbers, which contribute to the worse outcome. Altogether, our findings provide insights into the mechanisms by which the sympathetic nervous system exerts cancer-protective properties in a mouse model of PDAC.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a dismal disease with a survival rate of less than 7%, mainly due to the hepatic metastatic spread. Despite the importance of understanding PDAC metastases, ...central questions remain concerning their biology and chemosensitivity. Moreover, the transcriptomic divergence between primary tumor (PT) and hepatic metastases (HM) has been poorly studied and without a clear dissection of the confounding tumoral-surrounding tissue.
Here, to unravel key biological features not biased by the surrounding tissue, we implemented a blind source separation based on independent component analysis, ProDenICA, on a treatment-naïve cohort of PDAC paired samples and a cohort of 305 resectable patients. In addition, a time-lapse experiment was performed to assess the gemcitabine chemosensitivity profile between the PT and HM.
We identified HM's specific transcriptomic characteristics related to the upregulation of cell cycle checkpoint, mitochondria activity, and extracellular matrix reorganization, which could be associated with metastatic niche adaptation mechanisms. Furthermore, squamous lineage emerged as a key feature linked with a downregulation in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal program that can stratifies PDAC HM independent of the classical/basal-like spectrum. Remarkably, we also demonstrated that gemcitabine response is influenced by the squamous profile, being the HM more refractory to the treatment than the PT.
These results pointed out divergent HM aspects compared to PT and allowed their stratification through the squamous lineage. Moreover, we unravel a clinical actionable squamous signature that predicts the gemcitabine response.
•The squamous lineage has been related to a high aggressiveness and poor prognosis.•Squamousness stratifies PDAC independent of classical/basal-like phenotype.•Hepatic metastases displayed a higher squamous profile than the primary tumor.•The squamousness level predicts patients’ adjuvant gemcitabine response.
PDF
