scholarly journals Multi-Gene Testing Overview with a Clinical Perspective in Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (13) ◽  
pp. 7154
Author(s):  
Martina Dameri ◽  
Lorenzo Ferrando ◽  
Gabriella Cirmena ◽  
Claudio Vernieri ◽  
Giancarlo Pruneri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Triple Negative Breast Cancer ◽  
Triple Negative ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Gene Testing ◽  
Repair Deficiency ◽  
Targeted Treatments ◽  
Recombination Repair ◽  
Tumor Mutational Burden ◽  
Next Generation Sequencing Ngs

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is the technology of choice for the routine screening of tumor samples in clinical practice. In this setting, the targeted sequencing of a restricted number of clinically relevant genes represents the most practical option when looking for genetic variants associated with cancer, as well as for the choice of targeted treatments. In this review, we analyze available NGS platforms and clinical applications of multi-gene testing in breast cancer, with a focus on metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC). We make an overview of the clinical utility of multi-gene testing in mTNBC, and then, as immunotherapy is emerging as a possible targeted therapy for mTNBC, we also briefly report on the results of the latest clinical trials involving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and TNBC, where NGS could play a role for the potential predictive utility of homologous recombination repair deficiency (HRD) and tumor mutational burden (TMB).

scholarly journals Combined homologous recombination repair deficiency and immune activation analysis for predicting intensified responses of anthracycline, cyclophosphamide and taxane chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer

BMC Medicine ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaoming Liao ◽  
Zedong Jiang ◽  
Yiran Yang ◽  
Cong Zhang ◽  
Meiting Jiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Homologous Recombination ◽  
Triple Negative Breast Cancer ◽  
Immune Cells ◽  
Immune Activation ◽  
Triple Negative ◽  
Molecular Taxonomy ◽  
Homologous Recombination Repair ◽  
Repair Deficiency ◽  
Recombination Repair

Abstract Background Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a clinically aggressive disease with abundant variants that cause homologous recombination repair deficiency (HRD). Whether TNBC patients with HRD are sensitive to anthracycline, cyclophosphamide and taxane (ACT), and whether the combination of HRD and tumour immunity can improve the recognition of ACT responders are still unknown. Methods Data from 83 TNBC patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) was used as a discovery cohort to analyse the association between HRD and ACT chemotherapy benefits. The combined effects of HRD and immune activation on ACT chemotherapy were explored at both the genome and the transcriptome levels. Independent cohorts from the Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) were adopted to validate our findings. Results HRD was associated with a longer ACT chemotherapy failure-free interval (FFI) with a hazard ratio of 0.16 (P = 0.004) and improved patient prognosis (P = 0.0063). By analysing both HRD status and ACT response, we identified patients with a distinct TNBC subtype (ACT-S&HR-P) that showed higher tumour lymphocyte infiltration, IFN-γ activity and NK cell levels. Patients with ACT-S&HR-P had significantly elevated immune inhibitor levels and presented immune activation associated with the increased activities of both innate immune cells and adaptive immune cells, which suggested treatment with immune checkpoint blockade as an option for this subtype. Our analysis revealed that the combination of HRD and immune activation enhanced the efficiency of identifying responders to ACT chemotherapy (AUC = 0.91, P = 1.06e−04) and synergistically contributed to the clinical benefits of TNBC patients. A transcriptional HRD signature of ACT response-related prognostic factors was identified and independently validated to be significantly associated with improved survival in the GEO cohort (P = 0.0038) and the METABRIC dataset (P < 0.0001). Conclusions These findings highlight that HR deficiency prolongs FFI and predicts intensified responses in TNBC patients by combining HRD and immune activation, which provides a molecular basis for identifying ACT responders.

scholarly journals Case Report: A Case Study Documenting the Activity of Atezolizumab in a PD-L1-Negative Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fara Brasó-Maristany ◽  
Miriam Sansó ◽  
Nuria Chic ◽  
Débora Martínez ◽  
Blanca González-Farré ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Triple Negative Breast Cancer ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Triple Negative ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Genomic Analysis ◽  
Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes ◽  
Durable Response ◽  
Tumor Mutational Burden

The immune checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab is approved for PD-L1-positive triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). However, no activity of atezolizumab in PD-L1-negative TNBC has been reported to date. Here, we present the case study of a woman with TNBC with low tumor infiltrating lymphocytes and PD-L1-negative disease, which achieved a significant response to atezolizumab monotherapy and durable response after the combination of atezolizumab and nab-paclitaxel. The comprehensive genomic analysis that we performed in her tumor and plasma samples revealed high tumor mutational burden (TMB), presence of the APOBEC genetic signatures, high expression of the tumor inflammation signature, and a HER2-enriched subtype by the PAM50 assay. Some of these biomarkers have been shown to independently predict response to immunotherapy in other tumors and may explain the durable response in our patient. Our work warrants further translational studies to identify biomarkers of response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in TNBC beyond PD-L1 expression and to better select patients that will benefit from immunotherapy.

scholarly journals Epigenetic Regulation of Immunotherapy Response in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 4139
Author(s):  
Pere Llinàs-Arias ◽  
Sandra Íñiguez-Muñoz ◽  
Kelly McCann ◽  
Leonie Voorwerk ◽  
Javier I. J. Orozco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Triple Negative Breast Cancer ◽  
Triple Negative ◽  
Immune Escape ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Her2 Overexpression ◽  
Breast Cancers ◽  
Cancer Subtypes

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is defined by the absence of estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpression. This malignancy, representing 15–20% of breast cancers, is a clinical challenge due to the lack of targeted treatments, higher intrinsic aggressiveness, and worse outcomes than other breast cancer subtypes. Immune checkpoint inhibitors have shown promising efficacy for early-stage and advanced TNBC, but this seems limited to a subgroup of patients. Understanding the underlying mechanisms that determine immunotherapy efficiency is essential to identifying which TNBC patients will respond to immunotherapy-based treatments and help to develop new therapeutic strategies. Emerging evidence supports that epigenetic alterations, including aberrant chromatin architecture conformation and the modulation of gene regulatory elements, are critical mechanisms for immune escape. These alterations are particularly interesting since they can be reverted through the inhibition of epigenetic regulators. For that reason, several recent studies suggest that the combination of epigenetic drugs and immunotherapeutic agents can boost anticancer immune responses. In this review, we focused on the contribution of epigenetics to the crosstalk between immune and cancer cells, its relevance on immunotherapy response in TNBC, and the potential benefits of combined treatments.

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