Despite advances in genomic classification of breast cancer, current clinical tests and treatment decisions are commonly based on protein level information. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) ...tissue specimens with extended clinical outcomes are widely available. Here, we perform comprehensive proteomic profiling of 300 FFPE breast cancer surgical specimens, 75 of each PAM50 subtype, from patients diagnosed in 2008-2013 (n = 178) and 1986-1992 (n = 122) with linked clinical outcomes. These two cohorts are analyzed separately, and we quantify 4214 proteins across all 300 samples. Within the aggressive PAM50-classified basal-like cases, proteomic profiling reveals two groups with one having characteristic immune hot expression features and highly favorable survival. Her2-Enriched cases separate into heterogeneous groups differing by extracellular matrix, lipid metabolism, and immune-response features. Within 88 triple-negative breast cancers, four proteomic clusters display features of basal-immune hot, basal-immune cold, mesenchymal, and luminal with disparate survival outcomes. Our proteomic analysis characterizes the heterogeneity of breast cancer in a clinically-applicable manner, identifies potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets, and provides a resource for clinical breast cancer classification.
Summary Background Neratinib, an irreversible tyrosine-kinase inhibitor of HER1, HER2, and HER4, has clinical activity in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. We aimed to investigate ...the efficacy and safety of 12 months of neratinib after trastuzumab-based adjuvant therapy in patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer. Methods We did this multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial at 495 centres in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and North and South America. Eligible women (aged ≥18 years, or ≥20 years in Japan) had stage 1–3 HER2-positive breast cancer and had completed neoadjuvant and adjuvant trastuzumab therapy up to 2 years before randomisation. Inclusion criteria were amended on Feb 25, 2010, to include patients with stage 2–3 HER2-positive breast cancer who had completed trastuzumab therapy up to 1 year previously. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive oral neratinib 240 mg per day or matching placebo. The randomisation sequence was generated with permuted blocks stratified by hormone receptor status (hormone receptor-positive oestrogen or progesterone receptor-positive or both vs hormone receptor-negative oestrogen and progesterone receptor-negative), nodal status (0, 1–3, or ≥4), and trastuzumab adjuvant regimen (sequentially vs concurrently with chemotherapy), then implemented centrally via an interactive voice and web-response system. Patients, investigators, and trial sponsors were masked to treatment allocation. The primary outcome was invasive disease-free survival, as defined in the original protocol, at 2 years after randomisation. Analysis was by intention to treat. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT00878709. Findings Between July 9, 2009, and Oct 24, 2011, we randomly assigned 2840 women to receive neratinib (n=1420) or placebo (n=1420). Median follow-up time was 24 months (IQR 20–25) in the neratinib group and 24 months (22–25) in the placebo group. At 2 year follow-up, 70 invasive disease-free survival events had occurred in patients in the neratinib group versus 109 events in those in the placebo group (stratified hazard ratio 0·67, 95% CI 0·50–0·91; p=0·0091). The 2-year invasive disease-free survival rate was 93·9% (95% CI 92·4–95·2) in the neratinib group and 91·6% (90·0–93·0) in the placebo group. The most common grade 3–4 adverse events in patients in the neratinib group were diarrhoea (grade 3, n=561 40% and grade 4, n=1 <1% vs grade 3, n=23 2% in the placebo group), vomiting (grade 3, n=47 3% vs n=5 <1%), and nausea (grade 3, n=26 2% vs n=2 <1%). QT prolongation occurred in 49 (3%) patients given neratinib and 93 (7%) patients given placebo, and decreases in left ventricular ejection fraction (≥grade 2) in 19 (1%) and 15 (1%) patients, respectively. We recorded serious adverse events in 103 (7%) patients in the neratinib group and 85 (6%) patients in the placebo group. Seven (<1%) deaths (four patients in the neratinib group and three patients in the placebo group) unrelated to disease progression occurred after study drug discontinuation. The causes of death in the neratinib group were unknown (n=2), a second primary brain tumour (n=1), and acute myeloid leukaemia (n=1), and in the placebo group were a brain haemorrhage (n=1), myocardial infarction (n=1), and gastric cancer (n=1). None of the deaths were attributed to study treatment in either group. Interpretation Neratinib for 12 months significantly improved 2-year invasive disease-free survival when given after chemotherapy and trastuzumab-based adjuvant therapy to women with HER2-positive breast cancer. Longer follow-up is needed to ensure that the improvement in breast cancer outcome is maintained. Funding Wyeth, Pfizer, Puma Biotechnology.
The recurrence score based on the 21-gene breast-cancer assay has been clinically useful in predicting a chemotherapy benefit in hormone-receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 ...(HER2)-negative, axillary lymph-node-negative breast cancer. In women with positive lymph-node disease, the role of the recurrence score with respect to predicting a benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy is unclear.
In a prospective trial, we randomly assigned women with hormone-receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, one to three positive axillary lymph nodes, and a recurrence score of 25 or lower (scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating a worse prognosis) to endocrine therapy only or to chemotherapy plus endocrine (chemoendocrine) therapy. The primary objective was to determine the effect of chemotherapy on invasive disease-free survival and whether the effect was influenced by the recurrence score. Secondary end points included distant relapse-free survival.
A total of 5083 women (33.2% premenopausal and 66.8% postmenopausal) underwent randomization, and 5018 participated in the trial. At the prespecified third interim analysis, the chemotherapy benefit with respect to increasing invasive disease-free survival differed according to menopausal status (P = 0.008 for the comparison of chemotherapy benefit in premenopausal and postmenopausal participants), and separate prespecified analyses were conducted. Among postmenopausal women, invasive disease-free survival at 5 years was 91.9% in the endocrine-only group and 91.3% in the chemoendocrine group, with no chemotherapy benefit (hazard ratio for invasive disease recurrence, new primary cancer breast cancer or another type, or death, 1.02; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.82 to 1.26; P = 0.89). Among premenopausal women, invasive disease-free survival at 5 years was 89.0% with endocrine-only therapy and 93.9% with chemoendocrine therapy (hazard ratio, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.43 to 0.83; P = 0.002), with a similar increase in distant relapse-free survival (hazard ratio, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.39 to 0.87; P = 0.009). The relative chemotherapy benefit did not increase as the recurrence score increased.
Among premenopausal women with one to three positive lymph nodes and a recurrence score of 25 or lower, those who received chemoendocrine therapy had longer invasive disease-free survival and distant relapse-free survival than those who received endocrine-only therapy, whereas postmenopausal women with similar characteristics did not benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. (Funded by the National Cancer Institute and others; RxPONDER ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01272037.).
CPX-1 is a novel, liposome-encapsulated formulation of irinotecan and floxuridine designed to prolong in vitro optimized synergistic molar ratios of both drugs postinfusion. This open-label, ...single-arm, dose-escalating phase I study was designed to determine the maximum tolerated dose and pharmacokinetics of CPX-1 in patients with advanced solid tumors.
Patients received CPX-1 at 30, 60, 100, 150, 210, or 270 units/m(2) (1 unit = 1 mg irinotecan + 0.36 mg floxuridine) infused over 90 minutes every 14 days in 28-day cycles. Pharmacokinetic samples were collected on days 1 and 15 of cycle 1.
Thirty-three patients were enrolled, treated, and evaluated for safety; 30 patients were evaluated for response. A 1:1 plasma irinotecan to floxuridine molar ratio was maintained for 8 to 12 hours. Grade 3/4 toxicities included diarrhea (24.2%), neutropenia (12.1%), and hypokalemia (12.1%); 1 patient (270 units/m(2)) died of persistent diarrhea, which led to dehydration and renal failure (grade 5). Partial response occurred in 3 (12%) of the 25 subjects evaluated through Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors. Progression-free survival lasting >6 months occurred in 9 patients, 6 with colorectal cancer. Among 15 colorectal cancer patients (10 with prior irinotecan), the calculated median progression-free survival was 5.4 months; 11 patients (72.7%) achieved disease control and 2 patients (13%) had partial response.
Outpatient CPX-1 was well tolerated and antitumor activity was shown in patients with advanced solid tumors. The recommended dose for future studies is 210 units/m(2). This is the first clinical evaluation of fixed drug ratio dosing designed to maintain synergistic molar ratios for enhanced therapeutic benefit.
mutations are acquired frequently in hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer after prior aromatase inhibitors. We assessed the clinical utility of baseline
circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) ...analysis in the two phase III randomized trials of fulvestrant versus exemestane.
The phase III EFECT and SoFEA trials randomized patients with hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer who had progressed on prior nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor therapy, between fulvestrant 250 mg and exemestane. Baseline serum samples from 227 patients in EFECT, and baseline plasma from 161 patients in SoFEA, were analyzed for
mutations by digital PCR. The primary objectives were to assess the impact of
mutation status on progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in a combined analysis of both studies.
mutations were detected in 30% (151/383) baseline samples. In patients with
mutation detected, PFS was 2.4 months 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.0-2.6 on exemestane and 3.9 months (95% CI, 3.0-6.0) on fulvestrant hazard ratio (HR), 0.59; 95% CI, 0.39-0.89;
= 0.01). In patients without
mutations detected, PFS was 4.8 months (95% CI, 3.7-6.2) on exemestane and 4.1 months (95% CI, 3.6-5.5) on fulvestrant (HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.81-1.37;
= 0.69). There was an interaction between
mutation and treatment (
= 0.02). Patients with
mutation detected had 1-year OS of 62% (95% CI, 45%-75%) on exemestane and 80% (95% CI, 68%-87%) on fulvestrant (
= 0.04; restricted mean survival analysis). Patients without
mutations detected had 1-year OS of 79% (95% CI, 71%-85%) on exemestane and 81% (95% CI, 74%-87%) on fulvestrant (
= 0.69).
Detection of
mutations in baseline ctDNA is associated with inferior PFS and OS in patients treated with exemestane versus fulvestrant.
Basal-like breast cancer is associated with high grade, poor prognosis, and younger patient age. Clinically, a triple-negative phenotype definition estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human ...epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)-2, all negative is commonly used to identify such cases. EGFR and cytokeratin 5/6 are readily available positive markers of basal-like breast cancer applicable to standard pathology specimens. This study directly compares the prognostic significance between three- and five-biomarker surrogate panels to define intrinsic breast cancer subtypes, using a large clinically annotated series of breast tumors.
Four thousand forty-six invasive breast cancers were assembled into tissue microarrays. All had staging, pathology, treatment, and outcome information; median follow-up was 12.5 years. Cox regression analyses and likelihood ratio tests compared the prognostic significance for breast cancer death-specific survival (BCSS) of the two immunohistochemical panels.
Among 3,744 interpretable cases, 17% were basal using the triple-negative definition (10-year BCSS, 6 7%) and 9% were basal using the five-marker method (10-year BCSS, 62%). Likelihood ratio tests of multivariable Cox models including standard clinical variables show that the five-marker panel is significantly more prognostic than the three-marker panel. The poor prognosis of triple-negative phenotype is conferred almost entirely by those tumors positive for basal markers. Among triple-negative patients treated with adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy, the additional positive basal markers identified a cohort of patients with significantly worse outcome.
The expanded surrogate immunopanel of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, human HER-2, EGFR, and cytokeratin 5/6 provides a more specific definition of basal-like breast cancer that better predicts breast cancer survival.
Alpelisib, a PI3Kα-selective inhibitor and degrader, plus fulvestrant showed efficacy in hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative, PIK3CA-mutated advanced breast cancer in SOLAR-1; limited data are ...available in the post-cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor setting. BYLieve aimed to assess alpelisib plus endocrine therapy in this setting in three cohorts defined by immediate previous treatment; here, we report results from cohort A.
This ongoing, phase 2, multicentre, open-label, non-comparative study enrolled patients with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative, advanced breast cancer with tumour PIK3CA mutation, following progression on or after previous therapy, including CDK4/6 inhibitors, from 114 study locations (cancer centres, medical centres, university hospitals, and hospitals) in 18 countries worldwide. Participants aged 18 years or older with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 2 or less, with no more than two previous anticancer treatments and no more than one previous chemotherapy regimen, were enrolled in three cohorts. In cohort A, patients must have had progression on or after a CDK4/6 inhibitor plus an aromatase inhibitor as the immediate previous treatment. Patients received oral alpelisib 300 mg/day (continuously) plus fulvestrant 500 mg intramuscularly on day 1 of each 28-day cycle and on day 15 of cycle 1. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients alive without disease progression at 6 months per local assessment using Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, version 1.1, in patients with a centrally confirmed PIK3CA mutation. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03056755.
Between Aug 14, 2017, and Dec 17, 2019 (data cutoff), 127 patients with at least 6 months' follow-up were enrolled into cohort A. 121 patients had a centrally confirmed PIK3CA mutation. At data cutoff, median follow-up was 11·7 months (IQR 8·5–15·9). 61 (50·4%; 95% CI 41·2–59·6) of 121 patients were alive without disease progression at 6 months. The most frequent grade 3 or worse adverse events were hyperglycaemia (36 28% of 127 patients), rash (12 9%), and rash maculopapular (12 9%). Serious adverse events occurred in 33 (26%) of 127 patients. No treatment-related deaths were reported.
BYLieve showed activity of alpelisib plus fulvestrant with manageable toxicity in patients with PIK3CA-mutated, hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer, after progression on a CDK4/6 inhibitor plus an aromatase inhibitor.
Novartis Pharmaceuticals.
Biomarkers of bone turnover, including urine
N
-telopeptide (uNTx), have been used as surrogate measures of response to bone-targeted therapies. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels ...correlate with extent of bone metastases. We assessed whether vandetanib, an inhibitor of VEGF, epidermal growth factor receptor and RET signalling, improved uNTx response when added to fulvestrant (F) in breast cancer patients with bone metastases. Postmenopausal patients with bone predominant, hormone-receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer were randomised to F (500 mg IM days 1, 15, 29, then monthly) with either vandetanib (100 mg PO OD) (FV) or placebo (FP). The primary objective was uNTx response. Secondary objectives included PFS, OS, RECIST response, pain scores and toxicity. Sixty-one patients were allocated to FV and 68 to FP. Out of 127 analyzable patients, an uNTx response occurred in 66 % for FV and 54 % for FP (
p
= 0.21). No difference was detected between groups for PFS; HR = 0.95 (95 % CI 0.65–1.38) or OS HR = 0.69 (95 % CI 0.37–1.31). For the 62 patients with measurable disease, clinical benefit rates were 41 and 43 %, respectively (
p
= 0.47). Serious adverse events were similar, 3.3 % for FV versus 5.9 % for FP. Elevated baseline uNTx (>65 nM BCE/mmol Cr) was prognostic for PFS, HR = 1.55 (95 % CI 1.04–2.30) and for OS, HR = 2.32 (95 % CI 1.25–4.33). The addition of vandetanib to fulvestrant did not improve biomarker response, PFS or OS in patients with bone metastases. Baseline bone turnover was prognostic for PFS and OS.
The estrogen receptor (ER) is a key predictive biomarker in the treatment of breast cancer. There is uncertainty regarding the use of hormonal therapy in the setting of weakly positive ER by ...immunohistochemistry (IHC). We report intrinsic subtype classification on a cohort of ER weakly positive early-stage breast cancers. Consecutive cases of breast cancer treated by primary surgical resection were retrospectively identified from 4 centers that engage in routine external proficiency testing for breast biomarkers. ER-negative (Allred 0 and 2) and ER weakly positive (Allred 3–5) cases were included. Gene expression profiling was performed using qRT-PCR. Intrinsic subtype prediction was made based upon the PAM50 gene expression signature. 148 cases were included in the series: 60 cases originally diagnosed as ER weakly positive and 88 ER negative. Of the cases originally assessed as ER weakly positive, only 6 (10 %) were confirmed to be of luminal subtype by gene expression profiling; the remaining 90 % of cases were classified as basal-like or HER2-enriched subtypes. This was not significantly different than the fraction of luminal cases identified in the IHC ER-negative cohort (5 (5 %) luminal, 83(95 %) non-luminal). Recurrence-free, and overall, survival rates were similar in both groups (
p
= 0.4 and 0.5, respectively) despite adjuvant hormonal therapy prescribed in the majority (59 %) of weakly positive ER cases. Weak ER expression by IHC is a poor correlate of luminal subtype in invasive breast cancer. In the setting of highly sensitive and robust IHC methodology, cutoffs for ER status determination and subsequent systemic therapy should be revisited.
Neratinib is an irreversible pan-HER tyrosine kinase inhibitor that inhibits PI3K/Akt and MAPK signaling pathways after HER2 receptor activation. The ExteNET study showed that neratinib significantly ...improved 5-year invasive disease-free survival (iDFS) in women who completed trastuzumab-based adjuvant therapy for early breast cancer (EBC). We assessed the prognostic and predictive significance of PIK3CA alterations in patients in ExteNET.
Participants were women aged ≥ 18 years (≥ 20 years in Japan) with stage 1-3c (modified to stage 2-3c in February 2010) operable breast cancer, who had completed (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy plus trastuzumab ≤ 2 years before randomization, with no evidence of disease recurrence or metastatic disease at study entry. Patients were randomized to oral neratinib 240 mg/day or placebo for 1 year. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary tumor specimens underwent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) PIK3CA testing for two hotspot mutations in exon 9, one hot-spot mutation in exon 20, and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis for PIK3CA amplification. The primary endpoint (iDFS) was tested with log-rank test and hazard ratios (HRs) estimated using Cox proportional-hazards models.
Among the intent-to-treat population (n = 2840), tumor specimens were available for PCR testing (991 patients) and PIK3CA FISH (702 patients). Overall, 262 samples were PIK3CA altered: 201 were mutated (77%), 52 (20%) were amplified, and 9 (3%) were mutated and amplified. iDFS was non-significantly worse in placebo-treated patients with altered vs wild-type PIK3CA (HR 1.34; 95% CI 0.72-2.50; P = 0.357). Neratinib's effect over placebo was significant in patients with PIK3CA-altered tumors (HR 0.41; 95% CI 0.17-0.90, P = 0.028) but not PIK3CA wild-type tumors (HR 0.72; 95% CI 0.36-1.41; P = 0.34). The interaction test was non-significant (P = 0.309).
Although there was a greater absolute risk reduction associated with neratinib treatment of patients with PIK3CA-altered tumors in ExteNET, current data do not support PIK3CA alteration as a predictive biomarker of response to neratinib in HER2-positive EBC.
ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT00878709 . Trial registered April 9, 2009.
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