scholarly journals Multiplatform Analysis of Primary and Metastatic Breast Tumors from the AURORA US Network identifies microenvironment and epigenetics drivers of metastasis

Author(s):  
Charles Perou ◽  
Susana Garcia-Recio ◽  
Gregory Wheeler ◽  
Benjamin Kelly ◽  
Ana Garrido-Castro ◽  
...  

Abstract Patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) typically have short survival times and their successful treatment represents one of most challenging aspects of patient care. This poor prognostic behavior is in part due to molecular features including increased tumor cell clonal heterogeneity, multiple drug resistance mechanisms, and alterations of the tumor microenvironment. The AURORA US Metastasis Project was established with the goal to identify molecular features specifically associated with metastasis. We therefore collected and molecularly characterized specimens from 55 metastatic breast cancer (BC) patients representing 51 primary cancers and 102 metastases. The 153 unique tumors were assayed using RNAseq, tumor/germline DNA exomes and low pass whole genome sequencing, and global DNA methylation microarrays. We found intrinsic molecular subtype differences between primary tumors and their matched metastases to be rare in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC)/Basal-like subtype tumors. Conversely, tumor subtype changes were relatively frequent in estrogen receptor positive (ER+) cancers where ~30% of Luminal A cases switched to Luminal B or HER2-enriched (HER2E) subtypes. Clonal evolution studies identified changes in expression subtype coincident with DNA clonality shifts, especially involving HER2 amplification and/or the HER2E expression subtype. We further found evidence for ER-mediated downregulation of genes involved in cell-cell adhesion in metastases. Microenvironment differences varied according to tumor subtype where ER+/Luminal metastases had lower fibroblast and endothelial cell content, while TNBC/Basal-like metastases showed a dramatic decrease in B cells and T cells. In 17% of metastatic tumors, we identified DNA hypermethylation and/or focal DNA deletions near HLA-A that were associated with its’ significantly reduced expression, and with lower immune cell infiltrates. We also identified low immune cell features in brain and liver metastases when compared to other metastatic sites, even within the same patient. These findings have direct implications for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer patients with immune- and HER2-targeting therapies and suggest potential novel therapeutic avenues for the improvement of outcomes for some patients with MBC.

Diagnostics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 369
Author(s):  
Stefan Stefanovic ◽  
Thomas M. Deutsch ◽  
Ralph Wirtz ◽  
Andreas Hartkopf ◽  
Peter Sinn ◽  
...  

Breast cancers (BC) can mutate, allowing metastatic tumors (MT) to sometimes differ to primary tumors (PT) in gene expression. Despite contemporary metastatic breast cancer (MBC) therapy, subtype conversion seems prognostically disadvantageous. We strived to determine the influence of mRNA-assessed intrinsic subtype stability comparing PT and MT biopsies and circulating tumor cell (CTC)-based liquid biopsies on progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Additional analyzed prognostic factors were PT subtype, MT subtype and hormone receptor loss. Kaplan-Meier curves and the log rank tests were used to compare PFSs and OSs. The proportions of luminal B and triple negative subtype MTs were increased compared to those observed in PTs. Fifteen patients were found to have tumors that underwent intrinsic subtype conversion and their OS was significantly decreased (p = 0.038). No such difference was observed when it comes to PFS. The majority of these tumors switched to a more aggressive intrinsic subtype. No significant differences in PFSs or OSs were observed between subtype converters with triple negative PTs compared to those with luminal subtype PTs. The same is true of subtype stable patients. Total CTC, iCTC and aCTC counts decreased with therapy, but there were no significant differences between subtype converters and subtype stable patients. Our data confirm a poorer overall survival of the intrinsic subtype converters and emphasize the importance of acquiring biopsies and re-biopsies of all available metastatic lesions alongside with CTC-based liquid biopsies for earlier recognition of patients with poorer prognosis and in need of altered individualized therapy regimens.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahan Mamoor

Metastasis to the brain is a clinical problem in patients with breast cancer (1-3). We mined published microarray data (4, 5) to compare primary and metastatic tumor transcriptomes to discover genes associated with brain metastasis in patients with metastatic breast cancer. We found that the CD3 epsilon chain, a subunit of the T-cell receptor, encoded by CD3E was among the genes whose expression was most different in the metastatic tumor tissues of patients with metastatic breast cancer, both in metastases to brain and to the lymph nodes when compared to primary tumors of the breast or normal breast tissue, respectively. We observed significant down-regulation of CD3E in metastasis to the brain. If not attributable to immune cell contamination of primary tumor tissue sampled, molecular functions and down-regulation of CD3E may be important for metastasis of primary tumor-derived cancer cells to the lymph nodes and to the brain in humans with metastatic breast cancer and these data suggest some level of common origin for metastases that reside in the lymph nodes and colonize the brain.


Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Stefanovic ◽  
Thomas Deutsch ◽  
Ralph Wirtz ◽  
Andreas Hartkopf ◽  
Peter Sinn ◽  
...  

The presence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), detected as a form of liquid biopsy is associated with poor survival in both early and metastatic breast cancer. Monitoring tumor biology based on intrinsic subtypes delivers treatment-relevant information on the heterogeneity or biomarker conversion between primary and metastatic tumors. This study aimed to correlate the change of the apoptotic and intact CTC counts with mRNA-assessed intrinsic subtype change. Thirty-four breast cancer patients with available triplets of primary tumors, distant metastasis biopsies and data on intact and apoptotic CTC dynamics were included in the analysis. The intrinsic subtype was determined per RT-qPCR quantification of the gene expression ESR1, PGR, ERBB2 and MKI67. Both luminal (p = 0.038) and triple negative (p = 0.035) patients showed a significant downregulation of apoptotic CTCs. Repeated biopsies of distant metastatic sites, as well as determining a potential shift of the intrinsic subtype, combined with data on intact and apoptotic CTC dynamics from liquid biopsies might help personalize systemic therapy and generate additional surrogate markers for successful systemic therapy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahan Mamoor

Metastasis to the brain is a clinical problem in patients with breast cancer (1-3). We mined published microarray data (4, 5) to compare primary and metastatic tumor transcriptomes for the discovery of genes associated with brain metastasis in humans with metastatic breast cancer. We found that Rab11 family-interacting protein 4, encoded by RAB11FIP4, was among the genes whose expression was most different in the brain metastases of patients with metastatic breast cancer as compared to primary tumors of the breast. RAB11FIP4 mRNA was present at increased quantities in brain metastatic tissues as compared to primary tumors of the breast. Importantly, expression of RAB11FIP4 in primary tumors was significantly correlated with patient recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival. Modulation of RAB11FIP4 expression may be relevant to the biology by which tumor cells metastasize from the breast to the brain in humans with metastatic breast cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Stenström ◽  
Ingrid Hedenfalk ◽  
Catharina Hagerling

Abstract Background Patients diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer have poor outcome with a median survival of approximately 2 years. While novel therapeutic options are urgently needed, the great majority of breast cancer research has focused on the primary tumor and less is known about metastatic breast cancer and the prognostic impact of the metastatic tumor microenvironment. Here we investigate the immune landscape in unique clinical material. We explore how the immune landscape changes with metastatic progression and elucidate the prognostic role of immune cells infiltrating primary tumors and corresponding lymph node and more importantly distant metastases. Methods Immunohistochemical staining was performed on human breast cancer tissue microarrays from primary tumors (n = 231), lymph node metastases (n = 129), and distant metastases (n = 43). Infiltration levels of T lymphocytes (CD3+), regulatory T lymphocytes (Tregs, FOXP3+), macrophages (CD68+), and neutrophils (NE+) were assessed in primary tumors. T lymphocytes and Tregs were further investigated in lymph node and distant metastases. Results T lymphocyte and Treg infiltration were the most clinically important immune cell populations in primary tumors. Infiltration of T lymphocytes and Tregs in primary tumors correlated with proliferation (P = 0.007, P = 0.000) and estrogen receptor negativity (P = 0.046, P = 0.026). While both T lymphocyte and Treg infiltration had a negative correlation to luminal A subtype (P = 0.031, P = 0.000), only Treg infiltration correlated to luminal B (P = 0.034) and triple-negative subtype (P = 0.019). In primary tumors, infiltration of T lymphocytes was an independent prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival (HR = 1.77, CI = 1.01–3.13, P = 0.048), while Treg infiltration was an independent prognostic factor for breast cancer-specific survival (HR = 1.72, CI = 1.14–2.59, P = 0.01). Moreover, breast cancer patients with Treg infiltration in their distant metastases had poor post-recurrence survival (P = 0.039). Treg infiltration levels changed with metastatic tumor progression in 50% of the patients, but there was no significant trend toward neither lower nor higher infiltration. Conclusion Treg infiltration could have clinical applicability as a prognostic biomarker, deciphering metastatic breast cancer patients with worse prognosis, and accordingly, could be a suitable immunotherapeutic target for patients with metastatic breast cancer. Importantly, half of the patients had changes in Treg infiltration during the course of metastatic progression emphasizing the need to characterize the metastatic immune landscape.


2013 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 256-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Zhang ◽  
Zhen Jia ◽  
Min Zhou ◽  
Joseph Ragaz ◽  
Yong-Ping Zhang ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahan Mamoor

Metastasis to the brain is a clinical problem in patients with breast cancer (1-3). Between the breast and the brain reside the secondary lymphoid organ, the lymph nodes. We mined published microarray data (4, 5) to compare primary and metastatic tumor transcriptomes for the discovery of genes associated with metastasis to the lymph nodes in humans with metastatic breast cancer. We found that collagen type XVI alpha 1 chain, COL16A1, was among the genes whose expression was most different in the lymph node metastases of patients with metastatic breast cancer as compared to primary tumors of the breast. COL16A1 mRNA was present at decreased quantities in lymph node metastases as compared to primary tumors of the breast. Importantly, expression of COL16A1 in primary tumors of the breast was correlated with patient overall survival, in lymph node negative patients but not in lymph node positive patients. Modulation of COL16A1 expression may be relevant to the biology by which tumor cells metastasize from the breast to the lymph nodes and the brain in humans with metastatic breast cancer.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahan Mamoor

Metastasis to the brain is a clinical problem in patients with breast cancer (1-3). Between the breast and the brain reside the secondary lymphoid organ, the lymph nodes. We mined published microarray data (4, 5) to compare primary and metastatic tumor transcriptomes for the discovery of genes associated with metastasis to the lymph nodes in humans with metastatic breast cancer. We found that collagen type VI alpha 1 chain, COL6A1, was among the genes whose expression was most different in the lymph node metastases of patients with metastatic breast cancer as compared to primary tumors of the breast. COL6A1 mRNA was present at decreased quantities in lymph node metastases as compared to primary tumors of the breast. Importantly, expression of COL6A1 in primary tumors of the breast was correlated with patient post-progression survival, in lymph node negative patients but not in lymph node positive patients. Modulation of COL6A1 expression may be relevant to the biology by which tumor cells metastasize from the breast to the lymph nodes and the brain in humans with metastatic breast cancer.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahan Mamoor

Metastasis to the brain is a clinical problem in patients with breast cancer (1-3). Between the breast and the brain reside the secondary lymphoid organ, the lymph nodes. We mined published microarray data (4, 5) to compare primary and metastatic tumor transcriptomes for the discovery of genes associated with metastasis to the lymph nodes in humans with metastatic breast cancer. We found that teashirt zinc finger homeobox 3, TSHZ3, was among the genes whose expression was most different in the lymph node metastases of patients with metastatic breast cancer as compared to primary tumors of the breast. Analysis of a separate microarray dataset revealed that TSHZ3 was also differentially expressed in brain metastatic tissues. TSHZ3 mRNA was present at decreased quantities in lymph node metastases as compared to primary tumors of the breast. Importantly, expression of TSHZ3 in primary tumors of the breast was correlated with patient post-progression survival, in lymph node positive patients but not in lymph node negative patients. Modulation of TSHZ3 expression may be relevant to the biology by which tumor cells metastasize from the breast to the lymph nodes and the brain in humans with metastatic breast cancer.


e-CliniC ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Putu Krishna B. S. Putra ◽  
I Wayan J. Sumadi ◽  
Ni Putu Sriwidyani ◽  
IG Budhi Setiawan

Abstract: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in woman. Metastasis often occurs especially to the bones. This study was aimed to determine the characteristics of breast cancer patients with bone metastasis. This was a descriptive study with a cross-sectional design. Samples were 46 breast cancer patients with bone metastasis recorded at Sanglah Hospital from 2014 until 2018. Data of pathological examination archives of Oncology Surgery Division Medical Faculty of Udayana University/Sanglah General Hospital were used to obtain the clinicopathological characteristics of metastatic breast cancer patients based on age, lateralization, histopathological type, and tumor molecular subtype. The results showed that most cases of metastatic breast cancer were aged 40-49 years as many 21 patients (45.7%), minimal difference in lateralization between right breast as many 22 patients (47.8%) and left breast 23 patients (50%). The most common histopathological type was invasive carcinoma of no special type as many 34 patients (73.9%). The most common tumor subtype was the luminal B subtype as many 21 patients (45.7%). In conclusion, most patients of breast cancer with bone metastasis were 40-49 years old, invasive carcinoma of no special type, molecular subtype of luminal B, and no significant difference between lateralization to the right and left breast.Keywords: breast cancer, bone, metastasis, clinicopathological caharacteristics Abstrak: Kanker payudara merupakan jenis kanker yang paling sering dijumpai pada wanita. Metastasis sering terjadi terutama pada tulang. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui karakteristik pasien kanker payudara dengan metastasis tulang di RSUP Sanglah Denpasar. Jenis penelitian ialah deskriptif dengan desain potong lintang. Sampel penelitian ialah 46 pasien kanker payudara dengan metastasis tulang yang tercatat di RSUP Sanglah tahun 2014-2018. Data diambil dari arsip hasil pemeriksaan patologi di Subdivisi Bedah Onkologi, Departemen/Kelompok Staf Medis (KSM) Bedah Fakultas Kedokteran Universitas Udayana (FK UNUD)/RSUP Sanglah untuk mendapatkan karakteristik klinikopatologi pasien kanker payudara metastasis tulang berdasarkan usia, lateralisasi, tipe histopatologik, dan subtipe molekuler tumor. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan kasus terbanyak terjadi pada rentang usia 40-49 tahun sebanyak 21 orang (45,7%), dengan lateralisasi tidak jauh berbeda antara payudara kanan sebanyak 22 orang (47,8) dan kiri sebanyak 23 orang (50%). Tipe histopatologik yang lebih sering ditemukan yaitu invasive carcinoma of no special type sebanyak 34 orang (73,9%). Subtipe molekuler yang paling banyak ditemukan ialah subtipe luminal B sebanyak 21 orang (45,7%). Simpulan penelitian ini pasien kanker payudara dengan metastasis tulang berada pada rentang usia 40-49 tahun, invasive carcinoma of no special type, subtipe molekuler luminal B. dan lateralisasi payudara kanan dan kiri tidak jauh berbeda.Kata kunci: kanker payudara, metastasis, tulang, karakteristik klinikopatologik


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