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Background:The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between changes in breast density during menopause and breast cancer risk.Methods:This study was a retrospective, longitudinal cohort study for women over 30 years of age who had undergone breast mammography serially at baseline and postmenopause during regular health checkups at Samsung Medical Center. None of the participants had been diagnosed with breast cancer at baseline. Mammographic breast density was measured using the American College of Radiology Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System.Results:During 18,615 person-years of follow-up (median follow-up 4.8 years; interquartile range 2.8–7.5 years), 45 participants were diagnosed with breast cancer. The prevalence of dense breasts was higher in those who were younger, underweight, had low parity or using contraceptives. The cumulative incidence of breast cancer increased 4 years after menopause in participants, and the consistently extremely dense group had a significantly higher cumulative incidence (CI) of breast cancer compared with other groups [CI of extremely dense vs. others (incidence rate per 100,000 person-years): 375 vs. 203, P < 0.01].Conclusion:Korean women whose breast density was extremely dense before menopause and who maintained this density after menopause were at two-fold greater risk of breast cancer.Prevention Relevance:Extremely dense breast density that is maintained persistently from premenopause to postmenopause increases risk of breast cancer two fold in Korean women. Therefore, women having risk factors should receive mammography frequently and if persistently extremely dense breast had been detected, additional modalities of BC screening could be considered.

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to develop a machine learning(ML) based model to accurately predict pathologic complete response(pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy(NAC) using pretreatment clinical and pathological characteristics of electronic medical record(EMR) data in breast cancer(BC).Methods The EMR data from patients diagnosed with early and locally advanced BC and who received NAC followed by curative surgery were reviewed. A total of 16 clinical and pathological characteristics was selected to develop ML model. We practiced six ML models using default settings for multivariate analysis with extracted variables. ResultsIn total, 2,065 patients were included in this analysis. Overall, 30.6% (n=632) of patients achieved pCR. Among six ML models, the LightGBM had the highest area under the curve (AUC) for pCR prediction. After hyper-parameter tuning with Bayesian optimization, AUC was 0.810. Performance of pCR prediction models in different histology-based subtypes was compared. The AUC was highest in HR+HER2- subgroup and lowest in HR-/HER2- subgroup (HR+/HER2- 0.841, HR+/HER2+ 0.716, HR-/HER2 0.753, HR-/HER2- 0.653).ConclusionsA ML based pCR prediction model using pre-treatment clinical and pathological characteristics provided useful information to predict pCR during NAC. This prediction model would help to determine treatment strategy in patients with BC planned NAC.

Introduction Adding pertuzumab(P) on trastuzumab(H) with cytotoxic chemotherapy increased pathologic complete response (pCR) of early or locally advanced HER2 positive breast cancer (EBC) with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Since 63.6% of pCR rate has been reported from TRYPHAENA trial, TCHP regimen has been used as a standard of neoadjuvant treatment regimen for patients with HER2 positive EBC. However, this regimen has profound toxicities in terms of myelosuppression, neurotoxicity, and etc. Furthermore we still need more information on clinical outcomes and toxicities with this regimen. Therefore, we report real world experience of EBC patients treated with neoadjuvant TCHP followed by curative surgery. Methods We retrospectively reviewed electronic medical record of EBC patients who received neoadjuvant TCHP. Information which we gathered included patients’ and tumor characteristics at the time of diagnosis, details of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, pathologic assessment of tumor response to neoadjuvant TCHP and recurrence free survival after curative surgery. pCR was defined as absence of residual invasive cancer on pathologic evaluation of the resected breast specimen and all sampled regional lymph nodes (ypT0/isN0). Results Between February 2016 and August 2019, 447 patients were treated with neoadjuvant TCHP followed by curative surgery. Median age at BC diagnosis was 56. In clinical stage, stage II was 54.6% and 45.4% of stage III and hormone receptor (HR) positive BC was 48.3%. Most commonly reported adverse event(AE) was mucositis (84%) followed by diarrhea (77%). In terms of Grade 3 AE, anorexia(6%), diarrhea(2%) were frequently observed and 9(2%) of febrile neutropenia occurred despite of prophylactic use of peg-filgrastim. Forty percent of patients experienced dose reduction due to AEs. Of 447 patients, 29% of patients underwent total mastectomy and 71% of breast conserving surgery. In terms of clinical outcome, pCR rate was 64%; 77% of HR negative BCs and 50% of HR positive BCs. Among baseline characteristics, high nuclear grade, high histologic grade, HR stats affected to pCR status (Ps Key words: neoadjuvant chemotherapy, HER2+ breast cancer, pertuzumab, pathologic complete response Citation Format: Ji-Yeon Kim, Seok Jin Nam, Seok Won Kim, Jonghan Yu, Byung Joo Chae, Se Kyung Lee, Jai Min Ryu, Jin Seok Ahn, Young-Hyuck Im, Yeon Hee Park. Real Would Evidence (RWE) of neoadjuvant docetaxel/carboplatin/trastuzumab/pertuzumab (TCHP) in patients with HER2 positive early or locally advanced breast cancer treated Single institutional experience [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS10-38.

Background: Margetuximab (M) is an investigational Fc-engineered, anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody with the same epitope specificity as trastuzumab (T). Relative to T, Fc engineering of M increases binding affinity for the activating Fc receptor (FcR) CD16A and decreases affinity for the inhibitory FcR CD32B. The SOPHIA trial (NCT02492711) randomized pretreated HER2+ MBC patients to either M or T, each with chemotherapy (C). M+C improved progression-free survival (PFS) benefit over T+C. Infusion related reactions (IRR) have been observed after infusion of therapeutic proteins, typically during the first infusion, with a first-dose incidence of up to 40% for T (Herceptin Prescribing Information®). A retrospective analysis of 197 patients showed 16% IRRs on T, mostly after the first infusion; this rate was lower with (10%) compared to without (19%) premedication (Thompson, 2014). Here, we report IRR safety and tolerability data in the SOPHIA trial patients following HER2-targeted antibody therapy. Methods: The open-label Phase 3 SOPHIA trial enrolled patients with HER2+ MBC after at least 2 prior anti-HER2 therapies, including pertuzumab; 91% in both groups also received ado-trastuzumab emtansine. Randomization of 536 patients was 1:1 to M (15 mg/kg IV q3w) or T (6 [8 loading dose] mg/kg IV q3w), each with Investigator selected C (standard dose capecitabine, eribulin, gemcitabine, or vinorelbine). M was given as 120-minute infusions. T was given as a 90-minute infusion in Cycle 1, then a 30-minute infusion from Cycle 2 onward. Recommended elective premedication included acetaminophen, ibuprofen, diphenhydramine, ranitidine, dexamethasone, or equivalents. IRR safety analyses were conducted on 530 patients (264 M+C and 266 T+C) that received any study therapy. Results: A higher proportion of patients experienced IRRs on the M arm (35 [13.3%]) than on the T arm (9 [3.4%]). Most IRRs in both groups were severity Grade 1 or 2, occurred on Cycle 1 Day 1, and resolved within 24 hours. In patients receiving M, Grade 3 IRR occurred in 4 patients (1.5%), including 3 after vinorelbine and 1 after eribulin. Adverse events associated with Grade 3 IRRs included chills, fever, nausea, diarrhea, dyspnea, and/or hypertension. Two patients receiving M (0.8%) discontinued due to IRR, versus none on T. Of patients with IRRs, the most common symptoms in both treatment groups were chills (M: 17 [48.6%]; T: 5 [55.6%]) and fever (M: 13 [37.1%]; T: 2 [22.2%]). There was no observed hypotension in either group. In both groups, more than half of IRR events were addressed by dose interruption only. All IRRs all were medically manageable. IRR rates were higher in patients without premedication for both groups. Of 264 subjects receiving M, 218 (82.6%) received premedication and 46 (17.4%) did not; IRRs were observed in 28 (12.8%) of those receiving premedication and 7 (15.2%) of those not premedicated. All 4 patients on M with Grade 3 IRRs received premedication, 3 with steroids. Of 266 subjects receiving T, 173 (65%) received premedication and 93 (35%) did not; IRRs were observed in 5 (2.9%) of those receiving premedication and 4 (4.3%) of those not premedicated. IRR risk was unaffected by chemotherapy subgroup or CD16A genotype. Conclusions: In the SOPHIA trial, IRR events occurred in a greater proportion of patients on M than on T. Most were mild to moderate in severity, limited to Cycle 1, and resolved on the same day. Symptom patterns were similar between groups, and premedication did not eliminate the hazard of IRRs in either group. Severe IRRs and discontinuations due to IRRs were rare. IRRs on first infusion of M appear to resemble those observed following first infusion of T. Citation Format: Javier Cortes, Fatima Cardoso, Giuseppe Curigliano, William J Gradishar, Seock-Ah Im, Hope S Rugo, Shakeela W Bahadur, Alfredo Falcone, Serafin Morales Murillo, David A Riseberg, Antonino Musolino, Trevor M Feinstein, Miguel H Abreu, Young-Hyuck Im, Yelena Novik, Timothy Pluard, Lupe G Salazar, Rossana Berardi, Viorela Pop, Shengyan Hong, Kenneth Jacobs, Edwin Rock, Mark D Pegram. Infusion related reactions in the phase 3 SOPHIA trial of margetuximab + chemotherapy vs trastuzumab + chemotherapy in patients with pretreated HER2+ metastatic breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS10-24.

Purpose: Resistance to treatment with endocrine therapy in patients with HR+, HER2− advanced breast cancer (ABC) is common and dual inhibition of CDK4/6 and PI3K pathways may delay the development of resistance. This phase Ib trial evaluates the safety and tolerability of triple and double regimens containing the CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib. Patients and Methods: In this open-label, multicenter, phase Ib study, 70 postmenopausal women with HR+, HER2− ABC were enrolled into one of four treatment combinations: ribociclib (once daily, 3 weeks on, 1 week off) plus fulvestrant; ribociclib (continuous dosing) plus fulvestrant; ribociclib plus alpelisib plus fulvestrant; or ribociclib plus buparlisib plus fulvestrant. Results: The recommended phase II dose (RP2D) of ribociclib was confirmed to be 600 mg (3 weeks on, 1 week off) and 400 mg (continuous dosing) plus fulvestrant 500 mg. For the triple combination with buparlisib, the RP2D was ribociclib 400 mg plus buparlisib 30 mg plus fulvestrant 500 mg. Enrollment for the triple combinations was stopped due to unexpected toxicity. No RP2D was determined for the alpelisib combination. The safety profiles of the ribociclib plus fulvestrant combinations were consistent with those in previous studies. There was no marked difference in ribociclib exposure in the presence of triple-combination partners. The highest overall response rate was seen in the buparlisib triple combination (25.0%; 95% confidence interval, 9.8–46.7). Conclusions: Ribociclib plus fulvestrant demonstrated safety in the treatment of patients with HR+, HER2− ABC. Triple combinations with alpelisib or buparlisib plus fulvestrant are not recommended for phase II investigation. See related commentary by Clark et al., p. 371

We investigated the expression profiles of immune genes in patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) to identify the prognostic value of immune genes and their clinical implications. NanoString nCounter Analysis of 770 immune-related genes was used to measure immune gene expression in patients with TNBC who underwent curative surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy at Samsung Medical Center between 2000 and 2004. Statistical analyses were conducted to identify the associations between gene expression and distant recurrence-free survival (DRFS). Of 1189 patients who underwent curative BC surgery, 200 TNBC patients were included and stage was the only clinical factor predictive of DRFS. In terms of immune genes, 155 of 770 genes were associated with DRFS (p

Introduction: According to phase II clinical trial of endocrine treatment for hormone receptor positive (HR+) metastatic breast cancer(MBC) after tamoxifen treatment in premenopausal women, fulvestrant plus goserelin (F+G) has better clinical outcome than goserelin (G) alone in premenopausal women, in terms of time to progression (TTP). However, aromatase inhibitor (AI) with goserelin (A+G) is not superior to goserelin alone. Among three treatment arms, difference of overall survival (OS) was not observed. Accompanied with this clinical trial, we conducted further genotyping to identify alleles at some genomic loci associated with clinical outcome of endocrine treatments in premenopausal women with HR+ MBC. Methods: This prospective genotyping study included patients enrolled in a randomized phase II clinical trial of fulvestrant plus goserelin versus anastrozole plus goserelin versus goserelin alone for HR+, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(HER2)-negative tamoxifen-pretreated premenopausal women with recurrent or metastatic breast cancer (KCSG BR10-04). To isolate genomic DNA from peripheral blood leukocytes, we used the Wizard Genomic DNA Purification Kit according to the manufacturer’s instructions (Promega, WI) and Axiom Precision Medicine Research Array (PMRA) (ThermoFisher, CA) was used to genotyping array. Survival analyses for time-to-progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method. To determine the association between clinical outcomes and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), we used an R package for genome-wide survival analysis (gwasurvivr). Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for univariate and multivariate analyses. Finally, SNPs with adjusted p-value Results: Of 138 participants, genomic DNA was collected and extracted from 127 participants. After quality control (QC), 103 genomic DNA were finally selected for genotyping (35 in F+G, 36 in A+G and 32 in G group). Patients with age under 40 were 34 (33%) and visceral metastases were observed in 50 patients (49%). Medial TTP was 16.3 months (95% confidence interval (CI): 13.3, 19.3) and median OS was 59.6 months (95% CI: 41.1, 78.1). Among 523,289 SNPs, 76 SNPs were associated with TTP (adjusted p-value Conclusions: Genetic polymorphisms influenced the clinical outcome of HR+ MBC patients treated with anti-hormonal therapy. Further studies on the functional mechanisms relating to these SNPs in these genes are warranted. Citation Format: Ji-Yeon Kim, Seock-Ah Im, Kyung Hae Jung, Keun Seok Lee, Joohyuk Sohn, Jee Hyun Kim, Hae Hyun Jung, Minjoo Lee, Young-Hyuck Im. Genome-wide association study predict prognosis of hormone receptor positive metastatic breast cancer in premenopausal women with endocrine therapy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-08-50.

Background: MONALEESA-7 is a Phase III study (NCT02278120) and the only dedicated trial of endocrine therapy (ET) ± a cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor in premenopausal patients with hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HR+/HER2−) advanced breast cancer (ABC). The study demonstrated that the addition of ribociclib (RIB) to a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor (NSAI) or tamoxifen (TAM) + goserelin (GOS) significantly extended both progression-free survival (PFS; hazard ratio, 0.55; Tripathy D et al. Lancet Oncol. 2018) and overall survival (OS; hazard ratio, 0.71; Im S-A et al. N Engl J Med. 2019). Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and work productivity are other important aspects of clinical benefit, especially in the premenopausal population. We present analyses of QOL and work productivity from MONALEESA-7. Methods: Premenopausal or perimenopausal patients with HR+/HER2− ABC were treated with RIB or placebo (PBO) + GOS with either an NSAI (letrozole or anastrozole) or TAM. A secondary endpoint was evaluation of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) for HRQOL using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life questionnaire core 30 (QLQ-C30). Assessments included global health status as well as social, emotional, and physical functioning. Description of Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) was an exploratory endpoint and was measured using the WPAI Questionnaire: General Health (WPAI:GH; V2.0). Results: Time to deterioration (TTD) ≥ 10% in EORTC QLQ-C30 global health status was prolonged with RIB vs PBO (median, 35.8 vs 23.3 months; hazard ratio, 0.665 [95% CI, 0.517-0.855]). TTD ≥ 10% in emotional functioning was also prolonged with RIB vs PBO (hazard ratio, 0.636 [95% CI, 0.488-0.828]), as was TTD ≥ 10% in social functioning (hazard ratio, 0.813 [95% CI, 0.610-1.084]) and TTD ≥ 10% in physical functioning (hazard ratio, 0.715 [95% CI, 0.526-0.972]). Compliance rates with the WPAI:GH were > 99% at baseline and > 98% at the end of treatment. Neither arm had an increase from baseline to the end of treatment in mean percentage of work missed due to overall health. Change in percent activity impairment due to overall health was comparable between treatment arms, as were change in percent impairment while working due to overall health and percent overall work impairment due to overall health. The trends observed with RIB vs PBO in the EORTC QLQ-C30 and WPAI:GH in the overall population were generally similar in the NSAI cohort. Conclusions: WPAI and global health are important considerations in the premenopausal patient population. Analysis of PROs demonstrated that TTD ≥ 10% in global health status and emotional functioning were prolonged with RIB vs PBO. Social and physical functioning were maintained in both treatment arms. Results in various WPAI domains demonstrated that productivity was also maintained in both groups. These QOL and WPAI results, in addition to the significantly longer PFS and OS results with RIB vs PBO, indicate a substantial clinical benefit with RIB treatment in premenopausal patients with HR+/HER2− ABC. Citation Format: Nadia Harbeck, Sara Hurvitz, Aditya Bardia, Fabio Franke, K. Gonvind Babu, Paul Wheatley-Price, Young-Hyuck Im, Kadri Altundag, Antonia Ridolfi, David Chandiwana, Brad Lanoue, Lakshmi Menon, Debu Tripathy. Patient-reported outcomes, including work productivity, from the MONALEESA-7 trial of ribociclib plus endocrine therapy in patients with HR+/HER2− advanced breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-19-06.

Background: The APHINITY trial demonstrated that pertuzumab, when added to adjuvant trastuzumab and chemotherapy, modestly but statistically significantly improved invasive disease-free survival (IDFS) among patients with HER2-positive, operable breast cancer. From November 2011 until August 2013, 2400 patients were randomly assigned to receive pertuzumab and 2405 to receive placebo. The clinical cut off-date for the primary analysis was 19 Dec 2016 after a median follow-up of 45.4 months. In the intent-to-treat (ITT) population, the estimates of the 3-year rates of IDFS were 94.1% in the pertuzumab group and 93.2% in the placebo group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.66 to 1.00; P=0.045). The benefit appeared more pronounced in patients with node-positive disease, with a HR of 0.77 (95% CI 0.62-0.96), and in those with hormone receptor-negative disease, where the HR was 0.76 (95% CI 0.56-1.04). Based on these results, pertuzumab in combination with trastuzumab was approved for high risk early HER2-positive breast cancer patients. The first interim analysis of OS took place at that same time. A total of 169 patients had died, with no significant treatment effect with regards to mortality found at that time. Diarrhea, grade 3 or higher, was more frequent within the pertuzumab group (9.8%) compared with the placebo group (3.7%). Heart failure, cardiac death, and cardiac dysfunction were infrequent in both treatment groups. Results: At 74.1 months of median follow-up (clinical cut-off date June 19, 2019), we now report results of the pre-planned, calendar-driven second interim OS analysis which requires a p-value of 0.0012 to reach statistical significance. Updated descriptive analyses of IDFS and cardiac safety were also performed. Fewer deaths were observed in the pertuzumab (P) arm [125 (5.2%) vs 147 (6.1%)], however statistical significance was not reached at this interim analysis. The hazard ratio for OS is 0.85 [95% CI 0.67-1.07 (p=0.17)]; 6-year OS percents are 94.8% vs 93.9% (0.9% difference).Updated IDFS results based on 508 events in the ITT population are: hazard ratio 0.76 [95% CI 0.64-0.91]; 6-year IDFS percents are 90.6% vs 87.8% (2.8% difference). Of note, the difference was due mainly to the reduction in distant (5.9% vs 7.7%) and loco-regional (1.2% vs 2.0%) BC relapses. The node-positive cohort continues to derive clear benefit from the addition of P: hazard ratio 0.72 (95% CI 0.59-0.87). The benefit in terms of 6-year IDFS percent is 4.5% [87.9% vs 83.4%].In the node-negative cohort, the IDFS hazard ratio is 1.02 (95% CI; 0.69-1.53) with 95% of patients being event-free in both arms at 6 years.With longer follow up, a treatment benefit of P is also seen in the hormone receptor (HR) positive cohort: IDFS hazard ratio for HR positive is 0.73 (95% CI 0.59 -0.92). IDFS hazard ratio for HR negative is 0.83 (95% CI 0.63 -1.10). No new cardiac safety concerns emerged. One additional primary cardiac event (heart failure) was reported in the P arm and 1 additional patient in each arm had a secondary cardiac event resulting to 18 and 8 for primary cardiac events and 65 and 68 for secondary cardiac events in the P and placebo arms, respectively. The benefit of P in HER2+ early BC is maintained, with the greatest benefit continuing to be observed in the node positive population. With longer follow-up, the benefit of P no longer appears to depend on HR status. Continued follow up of patients is very important to determine possible benefit for OS. A calendar-driven third interim OS analysis is planned in 2.5 years, and the event-driven final OS analysis is planned when 640 deaths have occurred. Citation Format: Martine Piccart, Marion Procter, Debora Fumagalli, Evandro de Azambuja, Emma Clark, Michael S. Ewer, Eleonora Restuccia, Guy Jerusalem, Susan Dent, Linda Reaby, Hervé Bonnefoi, Ian Krop, Tsang-Wu Liu, Tadeusz Pieńkowski, Masakazu Toi, Nicolas Wilcken, Michael Andersson, Young-Hyuck Im, Ling-Ming Tseng, Hans-Joachim Lueck, Marco Colleoni, Estefania Monturus, Mihaela Sicoe, Sébastien Guillaume, José Bines, Richard Gelber, Giuseppe Viale, Christoph Thomssen. Interim overall survival analysis of APHINITY (BIG 4-11): A randomized multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial comparing chemotherapy plus trastuzumab plus pertuzumab versus chemotherapy plus trastuzumab plus placebo as adjuvant therapy in patients with operable HER2-positive early breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr GS1-04.

Introduction: Although HER2+ breast cancer (BC) is considered a moderately immunogenic tumor, several studies have shown a role of pre-existing immunity associated with favorable long-term prognosis and better response to treatment. In this study, we performed exploratory analyses to assess whether the efficacy of HER2 targeted treatment in the MARIANNE trial correlated with immune gene expression. Methods: MARIANNE (NCT01120184) is a phase 3 study in patients (pts) with centrally confirmed HER2+ local advanced/metastatic BC naïve to prior treatments in the advanced disease. Pts were randomized (1:1:1) to trastuzumab+taxane (HT), T-DM1, or T-DM1+Petuzumab (P) and the trial showed noninferior PFS of T-DM1 and T-DM1+P vs HT. Gene expression (RNA) analysis was performed on tumor samples by a custom 800-gene codeset on the nCounter platform. PD-L1, CD8 expressions and immune gene signatures (sign) analyses were assessed by multivariate Cox regression models using median (cut-off) as categorical variable and adjusted by prior HT, presence of visceral disease, world region, baseline ECOG, measureable disease at baseline, therapy setting, HER2 mRNA expression, PIK3CA mutation status. Results: MARIANNE randomized 1095 pts (HT, n=365; T-DM1, n=367; T-DM1+P, n=363). Gene expression results were available for 671 pts (61.3% of the intent-to-treat [ITT] population) which was representative of ITT. In ITT, HR below 1 was observed when comparing pts with high (>median) vs low (≤median) immune gene expression by clinical outcome suggesting a potential association of high immune marker expression with improved PFS (Table 1) and to some extent with OS (data not shown). This association was primarily observed in the T-DM1 arm where the HR suggested a risk reduction of disease progression(PD)/death especially in the high Teff, high PD-L1 and high CD8 subgroups, and to some extent in the HT arm (Table 1). When assessing the predictive impact on PFS by comparing T-DM1 vs HT, HR below 1 was observed especially in pts with high Teff signature, high PD-L1 and high CD8 expressions (HR 0.67 (95% CI (0.47-0.95)), HR 0.68 (95% CI (0.48-0.97), and HR 0.64 (95%CI 0.44-0.93), respectively). When comparing T-DM1+P vs. HT, HR below 1 was observed especially in pts with low Teff signature and low PD-L1 expression (HR 0.70 (95% CI (0.50-0.99), and HR 0.68 (95% CI (0.48-0.96) respectively). No clear differences between immune gene expression subgroups was observed when comparing treatment arms in regards to OS (data not shown). Conclusions: In the exploratory analysis from the MARIANNE study, high immune gene expression, especially in the high PD-L1, CD8 and Teff subgroups, showed an association with improved clinical benefit with HRs reflecting for a risk reduction of PD/death for PFS and partially for OS. This association was less obvious in the T-DM1+P arm. When comparing the treatments effect, the data showed a potential impact of high Teff signature, and high CD8 and PD-L1 expressions on T-DM1 and less on HT. The potential opposite association of low Teff signature and low PD-L1 expression with improved benefit in the T-DM1+P arm was unexpected and needs further investigation. Table 1: Prognostic biomarker effect on PFSBiomarker by categories (>Median vs ≤Median)HR (95% CI) ITT n=671HR (95% CI) HT n=220HR (95% CI) T-DM1 n=227HR (95% CI) T-DM1+P n=224Teff sign0.89 (0.73-1.09)0.97 (0.68-1.38)0.64 (0.45-0.91)1.09 (0.75-1.58)Th1 cytokine sign0.91 (0.74-1.11)0.92 (0.64-1.31)0.78 (0.55-1.11)0.96 (0.67-1.36)Checkpoint inhibitor sign0.95 (0.78-1.15)0.91 (0.64-1.29)0.90 (0.64-1.26)1.02 (0.71-1.47)PD-L10.80 (0.66-0.98)0.79 (0.55-1.13)0.62 (0.44-0.87)1.07 (0.74-1.55)CD80.91 (0.75-1.11)1.10 (0.77-1.57)0.66 (0.46-0.93)0.98 (0.68-1.41) Citation Format: Edith A Perez, Sanne Lysbet de Haas, Carlos H Barrios, Wolfgang Eiermann, Masakazu Toi, Young-Hyuck Im, Pier Franco Conte, Miguel Martin, Tadeusz Pienkowski, Xavier B Pivot, Howard A Burris III, Chiara Lambertini, Silke Hoersch, Monika Patre, Paul Anthony Ellis. Association of immune gene expression with outcome in the MARIANNE phase 3 clinical trial in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PD5-11.

Background: Margetuximab (M) is an investigational Fc-engineered anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody that targets the same epitope as trastuzumab (T) and exerts similar antiproliferative effects. Compared with T, M has higher affinity for both the 158V (high-binding) and 158F (low-binding) allotypes of the activating Fc receptor CD16A. M enhances innate immunity, including CD16A-mediated antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, and does so more effectively than T in vitro. Based on ex vivo experiments with cells collected from patients (pts) before and after treatment, M induces adaptive immunity, including enhanced T-cell clonality and induction of HER2-specific T- and B-cell responses. The SOPHIA trial (NCT02492711) showed that in pts with pretreated HER2+ metastatic breast cancer (MBC), M+chemotherapy improved progression-free survival vs T+chemotherapy, with comparable safety. M is intended to be dosed at 15 mg/kg every 3 weeks, with infusions over 120 min at every cycle (C). A substudy of SOPHIA was conducted to evaluate the safety and tolerability of reduced infusion times from C2 onward. Methods: Eligible pts had HER2+ MBC after ≥4 lines of prior therapy for MBC, including prior T, pertuzumab, and ado-T emtansine. Enrolled pts received a 120-min M infusion, with or without chemotherapy, in C1, then either 60- or 30-min infusions in C2 and beyond. This single-arm substudy was unblinded, with no comparator. The primary objective was incidence of Grade 3 or greater infusion-related reactions (IRRs) by the end of C2. Incidence of all IRRs was a secondary objective. Results: Of 88 pts enrolled, 69 received M+chemotherapy and 19 received M alone. Mean age was 54.5 years; 99% were female and 71% white. The median number of cycles of M received was 3 (range 1-17). Overall, 7 pts were assigned to received 60-min M infusions starting at C2 (range 1-17 cycles), and 76 pts were assigned to received 30-min M infusions starting at C2 (range 1-14 cycles). Five pts did not receive C2 treatment due to non-radiologic progressive disease, unrelated adverse event (AE), patient or physician decision, or loss to follow-up. Eighty (91%) pts had premedication for IRRs. No pt had Grade ≥3 IRR. Overall, 18 (21%) had IRRs (2 Grade 1, 16 Grade 2), all but 1 of which occurred in C1 (120 min). Of the 18 pts with IRRs, 17 (94%) were premedicated and 10 (56%) were treated for IRRs. The overall rate of IRRs in premedicated pts was 21% (17/80) and in non-premedicated pts was 13% (1/8). One pt experienced IRRs in both C1 and C2 (Grade 2 in C1 and Grade 1 in C2); the same patient then received 6 additional cycles of M (30 min) with no IRRs after C2 (C3-8) and had no premedication after C1. No pt discontinued treatment due to an IRR. Of 88 pts enrolled, 85 (97%) pts experienced an AE, and 7 (8%) had Grade ≥3 AEs. Fifty (57%) pts had M-related AEs. The most common (>5% of pts) M-related AEs were IRRs in 17 (19%), fatigue in 9 (10%), diarrhea in 5 (6%), and aspartate aminotransferase increase in 5 (6%). Serious AEs occurred in 13/88 pts (15%), none of which were considered M-related by the investigator. Conclusions: In this heavily pretreated population, shorter M infusion times did not lead to an increase in IRRs. IRRs were most likely to occur during C1 when the infusion time was 120 min. No Grade ≥3 IRRs were observed. Of 18 pts with Grade 1-2 IRRs, only 1 had an IRR after C1. These results showed that the acceptable safety and tolerability profile of M was maintained even after infusion time is reduced to 30-min from C2 onward. Shorter infusion times may reduce the burden of chronic M therapy on pts, caregivers, and clinic staff. Citation Format: William J. Gradishar, Seock-Ah Im, Fatima Cardoso, Javier Cortes, Giuseppe Curigliano, Mark D. Pegram, Antonino Musolino, Rosanna Berardi, Michelino De Laurentiis, Shakeela W. Bahadur, Young-Hyuck Im, Cynthia Lynch, Yelena Novik, Sutton Edlich, Edwin Rock, Shengyan Hong, Hope S. Rugo, SOPHIA Study Group. Phase 3 SOPHIA study of margetuximab + chemotherapy vs trastuzumab + chemotherapy in patients with HER2+ metastatic breast cancer after prior anti-HER2 therapies: Infusion time substudy results [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-18-04.

In this study, we evaluated clinical parameters to predict the primary resistance of palbociclib in combination with endocrine therapy as the first-line treatment in patients with hormone receptor (HR)+, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)- metastatic breast cancer (MBC). We performed a data analysis of patients diagnosed with HR+, HER2-MBC who received palbociclib plus letrozole as the first-line treatment in the metastatic setting from the clinical data warehouse in Samsung Medical Center. In this study, 305 patients were included in the final data analysis. The median follow-up duration was 31 months, and we observed 123 cases of disease progression. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 28.7 months, and 38 patients (12.5%) had less than a 6-month PFS. The multivariate analysis suggested that primary resistance to adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET) (hazard ratio: 1.91), presence of liver metastasis (hazard ratio: 2.17), initial elevation of serum CA-15-3 (hazard ratio: 1.99), weak positivity of estrogen receptor (ER) (hazard ratio: 2.28), Ki-67 3+ or 4+ (hazard ratios: 2.58 and 10.28), and presence of mutation (hazard ratio: 9.59) were associated with a short PFS duration. A further prediction model was developed with data from 256 patients and 33 cases of disease progression in 6 months. This model included five factors—primary resistance to adjuvant ET (odds ratio, OR: 1.14), liver metastasis (OR: 1.56), initial CA-15-3 elevation (OR: 1.51), weak ER expression (OR: 2.22), and BRCA2 mutation (OR: 2.85)—and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.842 (95% CI: 0.775, 0.909; p < 0.001). Finally, we divided them into four risk groups according to the prediction model with the five risk factors. These four groups had different PFS (p < 0.001) and primary resistance of palbociclib with letrozole [OR of group 2 vs. group 1 (ref): 2.18 (p = 0.002), OR of group 3: 3.91 (p < 0.001), and OR of group 4: 4.25 (p < 0.001)]. We developed a prediction model of primary resistance to palbociclib with letrozole as the first-line treatment for HR+, HER2-MBC. Our prediction model might be helpful for considering the first-line treatment strategies. Further well-designed clinical trials would be warranted to validate our prediction model.

As most erb-b2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer (BC) patients currently receive dual HER2-targeting added to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, improved methods for identifying individual response, and assisting post-surgical salvage therapy, are needed. Herein, we evaluated the 41-gene classifier trastuzumab advantage risk model (TRAR) as a predictive marker for patients enrolled in the NeoSphere trial. TRAR scores were computed from RNA of 350 pre- and 166 post-treatment tumor specimens. Overall, TRAR score was significantly associated with pathological complete response (pCR) rate independently of other predictive clinico-pathological variables. Separate analyses according to estrogen receptor (ER) status showed a significant association between TRAR score and pCR in ER-positive specimens but not in ER-negative counterparts. Among ER-positive BC patients not achieving a pCR, those with TRAR-low scores in surgical specimens showed a trend for lower distant event-free survival. In conclusion, in HER2-positive/ER-positive BC, TRAR is an independent predictor of pCR and represents a promising tool to select patients responsive to anti-HER2-based neoadjuvant therapy and to assist treatment escalation and de-escalation strategies in this setting.

Background: Loss-of-function mutations in genes encoding components of the homologous recombination DNA damage response (DDR) machinery, notably BRCA1/2, are associated with tumor sensitivity to poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi). Little is known about the potential contribution of tumor alterations in non-DDR genes to modulating sensitivity to PARP inhibitors in the clinic. In EMBRACA, the PARPi TALA improved progression-free survival (PFS) (HR [95% CI] 0.54 [0.41-0.71], P Methods: Baseline tumor tissue from 308 pts (71%; intent-to-treat) was tested by FoundationOne®. To support exploratory identification of tumor gene alterations associated with best vs worst outcomes, pts were mapped into 2 groups: [1] BEST: Pts in TALA arm with OS ≥ 30 mo and duration of treatment ≥ 24 mo, Pts in CT arm with OS ≥ 30 mo; [2] WORST: Pts in TALA or CT arm with a PFS event (PD by Independent Radiological Facility or death) ≤ 12 wks. 2 pts had short PFS but long OS and were initially mapped to both groups but then assigned to BEST and excluded from WORST. Results: Exploratory heat map visualizations of known/likely pathogenic genetic alterations defined by the FoundationOne® gene panel were used to assess differences in genetic alterations between BEST and WORST in TNBC and non-TNBC subpopulations, leading to the identification of MYC and RAD21 as commonly altered genes of high interest. Based on these results showing imbalances in tumor amplification events between BEST and WORST outcome pts, Cox regression analysis was used to explore potential associations of MYC or RAD21 amplification with OS across the evaluable ITT population. In TNBC pts receiving TALA, OS was shorter with MYC amplification than without [HR (95% CI) 1.877 (1.102, 3.196)]. No such association was evident in TNBC pts receiving CT [HR (95% CI) 0.706 (0.303, 1.643)]. In contrast, for non-TNBC pts receiving TALA, no association with OS was evident for MYC amplification versus without [HR (95% CI) 0.603 (0.310, 1.173)], while for pts receiving CT OS was shorter with MYC amplification than without [HR (95% CI) 1.917 (1.037, 3.544)]. RAD21 amplification status was not associated with OS in either TNBC or non-TNBC patients for either treatment arm, although it should be noted that two RAD21 subgroups were very small (n=7 and 11; others had n ≥ 21). Conclusions: Based on these exploratory, retrospective analyses MYC amplification was associated with shorter OS in TNBC pts receiving TALA. This may reflect the role of MYC in positive regulation of genes involved in homologous recombination such as RAD51 (Carey et al, Cancer Res 2018;78(3):742-757). MYC and RAD21 are both located at 8q24 and frequently coamplified in breast cancer (eg, Annunziato et al, Nat Commun. 2019;10(1):397), hence the lack of association of RAD21 amplification with outcome in TNBC suggests that the association of MYC amplification with shorter OS seen in pts receiving TALA may be gene-specific. Further investigation is warranted. Funding: Pfizer TNBCNon-TNBCTALACTTALACTGene AlterationBest n=10Worst n=15Best n=7Worst n=16Best n=17Worst n=11Best n=20Worst n=11MYC amplification0 (0%)7 (47%)2 (29%)6 (38%)5 (29%)1 (9%)3 (15%)5 (46%)RAD21 amplification1 (10%)2 (13%)3 (43%)5 (31%)5 (29%)1 (9%)7 (35%)4 (36%) Citation Format: Johannes Ettl, A. Douglas Laird, Joanne L. Blum, Hope S. Rugo, Sara A. Hurvitz, Miguel Martín, Henri Roché, Young-Hyuck Im, Annabel Goodwin, Rinat Yerushalmi, Tiziana Usari, Silvana Lanzalone, Akos Czibere, Julia Hopkins, Lee A. Albacker, Lida A. Mina, Jennifer K. Litton. A retrospective analysis of association of MYC and RAD21 amplification with final overall survival (OS) data in the phase 3 EMBRACA study with talazoparib [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS5-07.

Background: MONALEESA-7 (NCT02278120), the first large randomized phase III clinical trial dedicated to investigating a cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor (CDK4/6i) plus ET vs ET + placebo (PBO) in pre- or perimenopausal patients with HR+/HER2− ABC, previously demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in OS with the addition of ribociclib (RIB) to ET vs PBO + ET (median, not reached vs 40.9 months; HR, 0.71 [95% CI, 0.54-0.95]; P = .00973; Im SA, et al. N Engl J Med. 2019). This concluded the protocol-defined final analysis of OS and the patients and investigators were unblinded to their treatment assignment allowing patients on the PBO arm to cross-over to RIB treatment. Longer follow-up allows for more events to further characterize the long-term survival benefits. Here we report an exploratory update of OS after a minimum of ~ four years of follow-up, an additional 20 months since the last report. Methods: Pre- or perimenopausal patients with HR+/HER2− ABC were randomized 1:1 to receive RIB or PBO plus goserelin with either a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor (NSAI; letrozole or anastrozole) or tamoxifen. RIB is approved in combination with an NSAI in pre- or perimenopausal patients. Patients who had received a prior CDK4/6i or ET in the advanced setting were excluded. Patients who received ET in the (neo)adjuvant setting or ≤ 1 prior line of chemotherapy for advanced disease were eligible to enroll. Updated OS were evaluated by Cox proportional hazards model and summarized using Kaplan-Meier methods. Additional post-progression endpoints such as progression-free survival 2 (PFS2), time to chemotherapy (CT) and CT-free survival were also evaluated and summarized. Results: The data cutoff for this updated OS analysis was 29 June 2020, and the median follow-up was 53.5 mo (min, 46.9 mo). These updated results with extended follow-up demonstrated an OS benefit with RIB + ET vs PBO + ET (median, 58.7 vs 48.0 mo; HR, 0.76 [95% CI, 0.61-0.96]). In patients receiving an NSAI, a similar OS benefit was observed with RIB + NSAI vs PBO + NSAI (median, 58.7 vs 47.7 mo; HR, 0.80 [95% CI, 0.62-1.04]). The survival benefit shown in subgroup analyses was consistent with the intent-to-treat (ITT) population. PFS2, time to chemotherapy (CT), and CT-free survival for the ITT and NSAI populations are in the Table. Among the patients who discontinued study treatment, 77.3% and 78.1% in the RIB + ET vs PBO + ET arms received a subsequent antineoplastic therapy, respectively, and 12.9% and 26.1% received a subsequent line of CDK4/6i. Additionally there were 15 patients in the PBO arm that crossed over to the RIB arm following unblinding and prior to disease progression. Conclusions: With an extended follow-up of more than 4 years, RIB + ET continued to demonstrate a clinically relevant OS benefit compared with ET alone in pre- or perimenopausal patients with a median OS ~5 years with RIB +ET in HR+/HER2− ABC. A similar benefit with RIB was observed for PFS2, time to CT, and CT-free survival. ITTNSAI cohortRIB + ETn=335PBO + ETn=337RIB + NSAIn=248PBO + NSAIn=247PFS2Events, n (%)177 (52.8)221 (65.6)131 (52.8)159 (64.4)Median, mo44.231.043.630.4HR (95% CI)0.68 (0.56-0.83)0.69 (0.55-0.87)Time to first CTEvents, n (%)144 (43.0)173 (51.3)107 (43.1)129 (52.2)Median, mo50.936.850.936.0ITT HR(95% CI)0.69 (0.56-0.87)0.66 (0.51-0.85)CT-free survivalEvents, n (%)190 (56.7)236 (70.0)139 (56.0)169 (68.4)Median, mo42.426.442.525.9HR (95% CI)0.67 (0.55-0.81)0.64 (0.51-0.81) Citation Format: Debu Tripathy, Seock-Ah Im, Marco Colleoni, Fabio Franke, Aditya Bardia, Nadia Harbeck, Sara Hurvitz, Louis Chow, Joohyuk Sohn, Keun Seok Lee, Saul Campos-Gomez, Rafael Villanueva Vazquez, Kyung Hae Jung, K Govind Babu, Paul Wheatley-Price, Michelino De Laurentiis, Young-Hyuck Im, Sherko Kümmel, Nagi El-Saghir, Mei-Ching Liu, Sharonjeet Kaur, Claudia Gasch, Craig Wang, Yongyu Wang, Arunava Chakravartty, Yen-Shen Lu. Updated overall survival (OS) results from the phase III MONALEESA-7 trial of pre- or perimenopausal patients with hormone receptor positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HR+/HER2−) advanced breast cancer (ABC) treated with endocrine therapy (ET) ± ribociclib [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PD2-04.

There is limited evidence for the effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). This study aimed to assess whether adjuvant capecitabine and cisplatin improve survival compared to surgery alone among patients with locally advanced ESCC. This is a multicenter randomized controlled trial. Patients were eligible if they underwent curative resection for ESCC staged T2–4 or N1 and M0 according to the TNM cancer staging system sixth edition. The intervention group received four cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy (capecitabine: 1,000 mg/m 2 b.i.d for 14 days, and intravenous cisplatin: 75 mg/m2 at day 1, every 3 weeks). A total of 136 patients were randomly assigned to either the adjuvant chemotherapy group (n = 68) or surgery-alone group (n = 68). Seven patients who rejected chemotherapy after randomization were excluded from the final analysis. The cumulative incidence of recurrence within 18 months after surgery was significantly lower in the adjuvant chemotherapy group than in the surgery-alone group (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.49; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.25–0.95]. However, the 5- and 10-year disease-free survival did not differ between treatment groups (HR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.53–1.34 and HR: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.50–1.18, respectively). Adjuvant chemotherapy after curative resection in patients with locally advanced ESCC reduced early recurrence but had no statistically significant increase in the long-term disease-free survival. Due to the limited sample size of this study, additional randomized controlled trials with larger sample sizes are necessary.

Background The continuum of anti-HER2 agents is a standard treatment of HER2 + metastatic breast cancer (MBC). This study evaluated the efficacy of lapatinib plus vinorelbine in patients progressed on both trastuzumab and lapatinib treatments. Methods A total of 149 patients were randomly assigned to lapatinib with vinorelbine (LV) (n = 75; lapatinib, 1000 mg daily; vinorelbine 20 mg/m2 D1, D8 q3w) or vinorelbine (V) (n = 74; 30 mg/m2 D1, D8 q3w). The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS) rate at 18 weeks. Results The median number of previous anti-HER2 therapies was 2 (range 2–5). There was no significant difference in PFS rate at 18 weeks between LV and V arms (45.9% vs 38.9%, p = 0.40). ORR was 19.7% in LV arm, and 16.9% in V arm (p = 0.88). PFS and OS did not differ between two arms (LV vs V; median PFS, 16 vs 12 weeks, HR = 0.86, 95% CI 0.61–1.22; median OS, 15.0 vs 18.9 months, HR = 1.07, 95% CI 0.72–1.58). Toxicity profiles were similar in both arms and all were manageable. Conclusions Lapatinib plus vinorelbine treatment was tolerable; however, it failed to demonstrate the clinical benefits over vinorelbine alone in patients with HER2 + MBC after progression on both trastuzumab and lapatinib. Clinical trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT01730677.

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a topical lotion (CG428) on hair thickness and density in breast cancer survivors with permanent chemotherapy-induced alopecia (PCIA). The study was a double-blind, randomized controlled trial which conducted from February 2016 to December 2016 at the Samsung Comprehensive Cancer Center in Seoul, South Korea. Breast cancer patients with PCIA were randomized on average of 3.5 years after chemotherapy. Topical lotion (Batch DT023) is a botanical drug under development containing a novel patented blend of 4 botanical ingredients: citrus, cocoa, guarana, and onion. Participants were asked to self-apply the study product or placebo twice per day for 6 months. Changes in hair density and thickness were assessed using a noninvasive bioengineering device, and patient-reported outcomes were evaluated at 3 and 6 months after randomization. A total of 35 patients were randomized to intervention (N = 18) or placebo (N = 17). Patients in the intervention group were older than those in the placebo group (52.1 vs. 41.6 years; P

Background In this study, we observe the patterns initial palliative treatment for premenopausal patients with HR-positive/HER2-negative MBC and determine if nonadherence to clinical guidelines are associated with worse clinical outcomes in terms of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in the South Korean population. Methods A retrospective review was performed for premenopausal patients diagnosed with HR-positive/HER2-negative MBC between October 1997 and May 2016 who received palliative systemic treatments at a large tertiary medical center. Survival outcomes were analyzed according to the palliative treatment received prior to disease progression. Results The review identified a total of 272 premenopausal patients meeting study criteria, whose median age was 39 years. Endocrine therapy was the initial treatment in 137 patients (Group 1) with chemotherapy as initial treatment in 135 patients. In the latter group, chemotherapy was continued in 78 patients (Group 2), whereas chemotherapy was switched to endocrine treatment in 57 patients prior to any disease progression (Group 3). Both PFS and OS were significantly longer for chemotherapy-endocrine therapy (median PFS 18.2 months and OS 85.2 months) than for chemotherapy-alone (median PFS 12.6 months and OS 45.5 months) or endocrine therapy-alone (median PFS 7.0 months and OS 57.3 months) (all p values

Several prognosis prediction models have been developed for breast cancer (BC) patients with curative surgery, but there is still an unmet need to precisely determine BC prognosis for individual BC patients in real time. This is a retrospectively collected data analysis from adjuvant BC registry at Samsung Medical Center between January 2000 and December 2016. The initial data set contained 325 clinical data elements: baseline characteristics with demographics, clinical and pathologic information, and follow-up clinical information including laboratory and imaging data during surveillance. Weibull Time To Event Recurrent Neural Network (WTTE-RNN) by Martinsson was implemented for machine learning. We searched for the optimal window size as time-stamped inputs. To develop the prediction model, data from 13,117 patients were split into training (60%), validation (20%), and test (20%) sets. The median follow-up duration was 4.7 years and the median number of visits was 8.4. We identified 32 features related to BC recurrence and considered them in further analyses. Performance at a point of statistics was calculated using Harrell's C-index and area under the curve (AUC) at each 2-, 5-, and 7-year points. After 200 training epochs with a batch size of 100, the C-index reached 0.92 for the training data set and 0.89 for the validation and test data sets. The AUC values were 0.90 at 2-year point, 0.91 at 5-year point, and 0.91 at 7-year point. The deep learning-based final model outperformed three other machine learning-based models. In terms of pathologic characteristics, the median absolute error (MAE) and weighted mean absolute error (wMAE) showed great results of as little as 3.5%. This BC prognosis model to determine the probability of BC recurrence in real time was developed using information from the time of BC diagnosis and the follow-up period in RNN machine learning model.

Genetic diagnosis for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative metastatic breast cancer patients with the germline BRCA (gBRCA) mutation has been emphasized since the development of polyadenosine diphosphate-ribose polymerase inhibitors. Myriad Genetics, Inc.’s (Salt Lake City, UT, USA) companion diagnostics service is almost exclusively used for genetic testing. The aim of this study was to compare the results of germline BRCA mutation tests returned by a local laboratory and those performed by Myriad. Between April 2014 and February 2018, 31 patients with gBRCA 1/2 mutation test results from both Samsung Medical Center (Seoul, Korea) and Myriad were enrolled. “Discordant: Opposite classification” was observed for only one among 27 (3.7%). This discrepancy was due to the detection of a deleterious large genomic rearrangement of BRCA 1 by Myriad. Samsung Medical Center performed multiple ligation-dependent probe amplifications (MLPA) to detect large genomic rearrangements only in high-risk patients. This one case was not suspected as high risk and MLPA was not performed. The concordant rate was 74.1% for all 27 patients. “Discordant: Laboratory’s uncertain classification” was found in 22.2% of the sample (six patients). All discrepancies were generated during interpretation of BRCA 2 gene sequencing. Further studies and standardization of genetic testing for BRCA 1/2 genes are required.

Background: The role of chemotherapy for isolated locoregional recurrence (iLRR) of breast cancer has not been firmly established after local therapies.Methods: We performed a multicenter, retrospective analysis to evaluate the clinical implications of chemotherapy in breast cancer patients with HER2-negative iLRR.Results: Of a total of 277 patients, 146 (52.7%) received chemotherapy for iLRR. Median follow-up duration was 56.1 months. Eighty-six (31.0%) patients had luminal B-like and 100 (36.1%) had TNBC iLRR. There was a trend of longer disease free survival (DFS) in the chemotherapy group (4-year DFS: 70.4 vs. 59.5%, HR = 0.68, 95% CI 0.45–1.02, log-rank p = 0.059). When adjusted with clinically relevant factors, DFS was significantly prolonged with chemotherapy (adjusted HR = 0.61, 95% CI 0.40–0.94, p = 0.023). Subgroup analyses for DFS showed patients with disease free interval (DFI) p = 0.018; adjusted HR = 0.51, p = 0.005, respectively). Regarding the molecular subtypes, a longer DFS with chemotherapy was observed both in luminal B-like (4-year DFS: 77.8 vs. 55.0%, HR = 0.51, 95% CI 0.27–0.99, log-rank p = 0.048) and in TNBC patients (4-year DFS: 61.9 vs. 42.8%, HR = 0.49, 95% CI 0.24–1.02, log-rank p = 0.056), but not in luminal A-like.Conclusions: The chemotherapy for iLRR of breast cancer should be individualized for each patient, considering DFI, prior chemotherapy, and molecular subtypes.

Background This study was conducted to collect clinical safety, tolerability, and efficacy data with the use of everolimus (EVE) combined with exemestane (EXE) in patients with advanced breast cancer (ABC). Methods The EVEREXES trial initiated in 2012, provided early access to the first dual blockade treatment with EVE + EXE in patients with HR+, HER2 - ABC in Asia and other emerging growth countries. Postmenopausal women with HR+, HER2 - ABC who had documented recurrence or progression, following a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor therapy, were treated with EVE (10 mg/day) + EXE (25 mg/day) orally. Results A total of 235 patients received >= 1 dose of study medication. At the end of the study, all patients ceased the treatment. Disease progression (66.0%) was the primary reason of discontinuation. The most common AEs (>= 20%) were stomatitis, decreased appetite, hyperglycemia, rash, aspartate aminotransferase increased, anemia, alanine aminotransferase increased, cough, and fatigue. No new safety concerns were identified in the current study. Median progression-free survival (PFS) in the Asian subset was similar to that of the overall population (9.3 months in both groups). Confirmed overall response rate (ORR) was achieved for 19.6% of the patients. Efficacy of EVE + EXE across subgroups (prior CT, line of treatment, and presence of visceral metastases) was maintained. Conclusion The safety and efficacy results from EVEREXES trial are consistent to data previously reported in BOLERO-2. These results support that EVE + EXE could be a viable treatment option for the postmenopausal women with HR+, HER2 - ABC in Asian region., Novartis Pharma AG, Base, Switzerland; NovartisNovartis, The EVEREXES trial was funded by Novartis Pharma AG, Base, Switzerland. Funding for medical editorial support was also provided by Novartis.

Adipocytes are active sources of numerous adipokines that work in both a paracrine and endocrine manner. It is not known that the direct contact between tumor and neighboring fat measured by pretreatment breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) affects treatment outcomes to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in breast cancer patients. A biomarker quantifying the tumor&ndash, fat interface volume from pretreatment MRI was proposed and used to predict pathologic complete response (pCR) in breast cancer patients treated with NAC. The tumor&ndash, fat interface volume was computed with data-driven clustering using multiphasic MRI. Our approach was developed and validated in two cohorts consisting of 1140 patients. A high tumor&ndash, fat interface volume was significantly associated with a non-pCR in both the development and validation cohorts (p = 0.030 and p = 0.037, respectively). Quantitative measurement of the tumor&ndash, fat interface volume based on pretreatment MRI may be useful for precision medicine and subsequently influence the treatment strategy of patients.

Although PEGylated filgrastim-induced aortitis is very rare and unknown clinically, some cases were reported and increasing, especially in breast cancer patients. The present study investigated the prevalence, clinical features and treatment of aortitis induced by PEGylated filgrastim in patients with breast cancer. A total of 2068 consecutive patients who underwent neoadjuvant/adjuvant chemotherapy with PEGylated filgrastim for breast cancer were enrolled. From the medical record, clinical, laboratory, medication, and imaging evaluation findings were collected. PEGylated filgrastim-induced aortitis was established in 0.3% of the study population. Common clinical presentations included extremely high fever and chest/back pain with high levels of inflammatory markers without any signs of infection. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography scans revealed typical enhancing wall thickening and periaortic soft tissue infiltration at various levels of aorta. All patients improved rapidly after treatment with modest doses of prednisolone (0.5 mg/kg/day) without any complications. Clinicians should be aware of aortitis as a possible complication of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor therapy, especially PEGylated filgrastim, given the frequent misdiagnoses in neutropenic patients undergoing chemotherapy.

There is limited evidence for effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. We conducted a multi-center randomized controlled trial to assess whether adjuvant Capecitabine and Cisplatin improve survival compared with surgery only among patients with resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Methods This is a multicenter randomized controlled trials conducted at five hospitals in Korea from Mar 2005 to Dec 2018. Patients were eligible if they underwent curative resection for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and diagnosed with pathologic T2–3 or N1 stage, according to 6th edition of TNM cancer staging system. Patients who were diagnosed with cervical esophageal cancer, had previous history of cancer, or received neoadjuvant therapy were excluded. Intervention group received 4 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy (Capecitabine 1,000 mg/m2 b.i.d for 14 days and intravenous Cisplatin 75 mg/m2 at Day1, every 3 weeks). The primary endpoint was disease free survival. Results 136 patients were randomly assigned to adjuvant chemotherapy group (n = 68) or surgery alone group (n = 68). Seven patients who rejected chemotherapy after randomization were excluded from the final analysis. The cumulative incidence of recurrence within 18 months after surgery was significantly lower in the adjuvant chemotherapy group compared to the surgery alone group (Hazard Ratio (HR), 0.45; 95% Confidence Interval (CI), 0.22–0.91). After long-term follow-up (median 3.3 years, maximum 14 years), disease free survival and overall survival were not different between two groups. (HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.49–1.18 and HR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.55–1.34, respectively.) Conclusion Adjuvant chemotherapy after curative resection in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma reduced early recurrence but this does not extend to long-term disease free and overall survival due to limited sample size. Additional randomized controlled trials with larger sample would be necessary to confirm the effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Exosomes in blood play an important role in cell-to-cell signaling and are a novel source of biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases. Recently, evidence has accumulated that cytokines are released from encapsulated exosomes and are capable of eliciting biological effects upon contact with sensitive cells. However, there is currently limited information on exosome isolation methods for cytokine research. In this study, we evaluated three exosome isolation methods for their usability, yield, purity, and effectiveness in subsequent cytokine profiling. We found that ultracentrifugation (UC) and Exoquick (EQ), but not exoEasy, yielded appropriate exosome sizes, and EQ had higher exosome extraction efficiency than the other two methods. Although UC generated markedly fewer particles than EQ, it yielded a relatively high purity. Next, we performed a multiplex assay with the ProcartaPlex Immune Monitoring 65-Plex Panel to determine the feasibility of these methods for cytokine profiling. The results indicated significant differences among isolation methods when analyzing exosomal cytokine profiles. We further investigated the changes of exosomal cytokines according to breast cancer progression in triple-negative breast cancer. We found significantly decreased concentrations of MIP-3 alpha, IL-23, M-CSF, Eotaxin-3, BLC, SDF-1 alpha, IL-2R, MDC, FGF-2, IL-22, and IL-31 in exosomes from metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients.

Background: This analysis evaluated patient-reported outcomes (PROs) to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in the phase III MONALEESA-7 trial, which previously demonstrated improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) with ribociclib (cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor) + endocrine therapy (ET) compared with placebo + ET in pre- and perimenopausal patients with hormone-receptor-positive, HER2-negative (HR+/HER2−) advanced breast cancer (ABC). Methods: The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life questionnaire C30 (QLQ-C30) and the EQ-5D-5L were used to evaluate HRQoL. Results: EORTC QLQ-C30 assessments were evaluable for 335 patients in the ribociclib arm and 337 patients in the placebo arm. Adherence rates at baseline and ⩾1 postbaseline time point were 90% and 83%, respectively. Patients treated with ribociclib + ET had a longer time to deterioration (TTD) ⩾ 10% in global HRQoL {hazard ratio (HR), 0.67 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.52–0.86]}. TTD ⩾ 10% in global HRQoL was delayed in ribociclib-treated patients without versus with disease progression [HR, 0.31 (95% CI, 0.21–0.48)]. TTD ⩾ 10% in pain was longer with ribociclib + ET than with placebo + ET [HR, 0.65 (95% CI, 0.45–0.92)]. Patients who received a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor experienced similar benefits with ribociclib versus placebo in global HRQoL and pain. Conclusion: HRQoL was maintained longer in patients who received ribociclib + ET versus placebo + ET. These data, combined with previously reported improvements in PFS and OS, support a strong clinical benefit-to-risk ratio with ribociclib-based treatment in pre- and perimenopausal patients with HR+/HER2− ABC.

Although the introduction of human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)2-directed therapy including trastuzumab, pertuzumab, lapatinib and trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) in the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancers (mBCs) favorably changed the natural history of this disease, most cases of HER2-positive mBC will eventually progress. Poziotinib is an oral pan-HER kinase inhibitor showing potent activity through irreversible inhibition of these kinases. This open-label, multicenter phase II study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of poziotinib monotherapy in patients with HER2-positive mBC who had progressed from more than two HER2-directed therapies. Patients received 12 mg poziotinib once daily on a 14-day on/7-day off schedule. Progression-free survival (PFS) as the primary endpoint, the objective response rate (ORR), overall survival (OS) and safety were evaluated. From April 2015 to February 2016, 106 patients were enrolled in the trial from seven institutes in South Korea. They had a median age of 51 years (range 30-76) and had received a median of four prior therapies including two HER2-directed therapies for advanced or metastatic cancers. The median follow-up duration was 12 months. The median PFS was 4.04 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.94-4.40 months), and median overall survival has not been reached. The most common treatment-related adverse events were (total/grade ≥3) diarrhea (96.23%/14.15%), stomatitis (92.45%/12.26%) and rashes (63.21%/3.77%). Poziotinib showed meaningful activity in these heavily treated HER2-positive mBCs. Diarrhea and stomatitis were the major toxicities. Biomarker studies analyzed are warranted to support further evaluation of this treatment in such cases.

The value of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) for prediction of pathologic complete response (pCR) in breast cancer (BC) patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has received increasing attention. In human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive BC, advances in HER2-targeted therapy have not yet clarified the clinical implications of pre-NAC TILs. Likewise, the prognostic role of TILs for long-term survival is not well established. Pre- and post-NAC TIL levels were evaluated in 248 pair-matched pre-NAC biopsy and post-NAC resection samples, and analyzed for predictive and prognostic significance with other clinicopathologic parameters. Additional 60 pre-NAC biopsy samples of HER2-positive BC treated with a TCHP regimen (docetaxel, carboplatin, and a combination of trastuzumab and pertuzumab) were also assessed. High pre-NAC TILs, clinical nodal stage 0–1 (cN0–1), and negative ER expression were shown to be strong predictive markers for pCR. A nomogram based on these significant clinicopathologic predictors was developed, providing integrated probability of achieving pCR after NAC. The association between high pre-NAC TIL levels and significantly increased pCR rate was also confirmed in HER2-positive BC patients treated with a TCHP regimen. After chemotherapy, increased quantity of post-NAC TILs was shown to have extended BC-specific survival and disease-free survival in univariable and multivariable analyses. High pre-NAC TIL levels were significantly predictive of pCR in BC, and can act as a surrogate marker for predicting therapeutic effects of a TCHP regimen for HER2-positive BC. Post-NAC TILs in residual disease were a new prognostic marker of risk stratification for long-term survival.

Purpose To investigate the effect of body mass index (BMI) on survival in patients with breast cancer according to tumor subtype, metabolic syndrome, and systemic treatment. Patients and Methods We identified 5668 patients who underwent curative surgery for breast cancer between 1996 and 2013 from the clinical data of a single institution. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated and compared between the patients with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 and Results In all patients, BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 was an unfavorable factor for OS (P = .030) but not for DFS. In the HR+/HER2− subgroup, DFS and OS were longer in patients with BMI Conclusion BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 was an unfavorable survival factor, particularly in patients with HR+/HER2− breast cancer.

Purpose PIK3CA mutation is considered to be a possible cause for resistance to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer. We investigated the association between PIK3CA mutations and the outcome of NAC in HER2-positive breast cancers. Methods A total of 100 HER2-positive breast cancer patients who had undergone NAC and surgery between 2004 and 2016 were examined. Mutation status was sequentially assessed in pre-NAC, post-NAC, and recurrent specimens taken from these patients. Results PIK3CA mutations were identified in the sequential specimens of 17 patients (17.0%). These 17 patients experienced shorter disease-free survival (DFS) than the rest of the patients (58.3 months vs. 119.3 months, p=0.020); however, there was no significant difference in pathologic complete response (pCR) and overall survival (OS) (pCR, 17.6% vs. 33.7%, p=0.191; OS, 84.5 months vs. 118.0 months, p=0.984). While there was no difference in pCR between the wild-type and mutant PIK3CA groups in pre-NAC specimens (25.0% vs. 31.8%, p=0.199), PIK3CA mutations correlated with lower pCR in post-NAC specimens (0.0% vs. 24.3%, p

Background: In MONALEESA-2, ribociclib plus letrozole showed improved progression-free survival compared with letrozole alone as first-line treatment for postmenopausal patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative, advanced breast cancer. MONALEESA-7 aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of ribociclib plus endocrine therapy in premenopausal women with advanced, HR-positive breast cancer. Methods: This phase 3, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was done at 188 centres in 30 countries. Eligible patients were premenopausal women aged 18–59 years who had histologically or cytologically confirmed HR-positive, HER2-negative, advanced breast cancer; an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0 or 1; measurable disease as per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1 criteria, or at least one predominantly lytic bone lesion; and had not received previous treatment with cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 inhibitors. Endocrine therapy and chemotherapy in the adjuvant or neoadjuvant setting was permitted, as was up to one line of chemotherapy for advanced disease. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) via interactive response technology to receive oral ribociclib (600 mg/day on a 3-weeks-on, 1-week-off schedule) or matching placebo with either oral tamoxifen (20 mg daily) or a non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor (letrozole 2·5 mg or anastrozole 1 mg, both oral, daily), all with goserelin (3·6 mg administered subcutaneously on day 1 of every 28-day cycle). Patients and investigators were masked to treatment assignment. Efficacy analyses were by intention to treat, and safety was assessed in all patients who received at least one dose of any study treatment. The primary endpoint was investigator-assessed progression-free survival. MONALEESA-7 is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02278120 and is ongoing, but no longer enrolling patients. Findings: Between Dec 17, 2014, and Aug 1, 2016, 672 patients were randomly assigned: 335 to the ribociclib group and 337 to the placebo group. Per investigator's assessment, median progression-free survival was 23·8 months (95% CI 19·2–not reached) in the ribociclib group compared with 13·0 months (11·0–16·4) in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0·55, 95% CI 0·44–0·69; p

The new eighth edition TNM classification by the AJCC for breast cancer (BC) incorporates biologic factors and gene expression prognostic panels, in addition to traditional anatomic factors. In this study, we evaluated the prognostic value of this new staging system compared to the previous AJCC 7th edition staging system. We conducted a retrospective analysis of women with stage I, II, or III BC who underwent curative surgery with/without adjuvant systemic therapy at Samsung Medical Center between July 2004 and December 2008. Of 3,208 BCs, this study was analyzed using the information of 2,790 BC patients. Hormone receptor-positive (HR+) and human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2)− BCs were observed in 62.9% of BCs, HR+/ HER2+ in 9.3%, HR−/HER2− in 17.0%, and HR−/HER2+ in 10.8%. In survival analysis, we observed 245 distant recurrences and 198 deaths caused by BC progression. The median follow-up duration was 116.2 months. 10-year disease-specific survival (DSS) rates according to the AJCC 7th edition criteria were 97.2% of stage IA, 100% of IB, 94.9% of IIA, 87.9% of IIB, 86.4% of IIIA, 95.7% of IIIB, and 65.7% of IIIC (p

BACKGROUND: Biomarkers of cardiac damages, such as troponin T (TnT) and the amino-terminal fragment of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), may be useful as early predictors of cardiac dysfunction. The role of these biomarkers in patients receiving lapatinib and/or trastuzumab before anthracyclines is unknown. This study explores TnT and NT-proBNP as predictors of early cardiac toxicity in neoadjuvant breast cancer patients. METHODS:This sub-study of the NEOALTTO trial tested if changes in the levels of TnT and NT-proBNP occurred after 2weeks of anti-HER2 therapy (lapatinib, trastuzumab or their combination) alone and/or after 18weeks of anti-HER2 therapy plus weekly paclitaxel. RESULTS:173 and 172 were tested at all three timepoints for NT-proBNP and TnT, respectively. The incidence of biomarker elevation was overall low at all timepoints for all the three treatment arms. A total of 13 CEs in 11 patients occurred. Biomarker elevations in patients with CEs were very rare; only one patient with subsequent CE had a NT-proBNP elevation at baseline and at week 2. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that TnT and proBNP may not be useful as early predictors of cardiac toxicity in anthracycline-naïve patients receiving trastuzumab and/or lapatinib.

Simple Summary Exosomes and cytokines play crucial roles in the process of tumor progression. Recent studies have reported that cytokines can be packaged into exosomes, leading to drug resistance. The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential value of cytokines in both serum and exosomes as prognostic biomarkers of long-term outcomes in patients with breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. We observed significant differences in expression patterns between serum cytokines and exosomal cytokines. Elevated levels of serum IP-10, serum MMP-1, and exosomal NGF were associated with poor overall survival. In multivariate analysis, exosomal NGF was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival. These findings suggest that exosomal NGF is useful for identifying patients with poor survival outcomes. Abstract Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is a standard treatment strategy for patients with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC). However, there are no established predictors of chemosensitivity and survival in LABC patients who undergo NAC. Many studies have demonstrated that exosomes and cytokines are important players in intercellular communication between tumors and their environments, and are involved in chemotherapy resistance. Recently, it was reported that cytokines can be packaged into exosomes, but whether exosomal cytokines serve as biomarkers in breast cancer patients is still unclear. In this study, we examined the roles of cytokines in both serum and exosomes as prognostic biomarkers for long-term outcomes in patients with breast cancer who undergo NAC. We isolated exosomes from the blood of 129 patients with early breast cancer who were receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy between 2008 and 2011 at Samsung Medical Center. The levels of cytokines and growth factors in serum and exosomes were measured with ProcartaPlex immune-related panels. We investigated correlations between clinic-pathologic variables and patient survival, and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed for prognostic evaluation. We detected significant differences in expression patterns between serum cytokines and exosomal cytokines. In both serum and exosomes, many cytokines were positively correlated with age. In univariate analysis, patients with high serum IP-10, serum MMP-1, and exosomal NGF had shorter overall survival. Exosomal NGF showed significantly poorer overall survival in multivariate analysis. These findings suggest that exosomal NGF is useful for identifying patients with poor survival outcomes.

Accurate detection of genomic alterations using high-throughput sequencing is an essential component of precision cancer medicine. We characterize the variant allele fractions (VAFs) of somatic single nucleotide variants and indels across 5095 clinical samples profiled using a custom panel, CancerSCAN. Our results demonstrate that a significant fraction of clinically actionable variants have low VAFs, often due to low tumor purity and treatment-induced mutations. The percentages of mutations under 5% VAF across hotspots in EGFR, KRAS, PIK3CA, and BRAF are 16%, 11%, 12%, and 10%, respectively, with 24% for EGFR T790M and 17% for PIK3CA E545. For clinical relevance, we describe two patients for whom targeted therapy achieved remission despite low VAF mutations. We also characterize the read depths necessary to achieve sensitivity and specificity comparable to current laboratory assays. These results show that capturing low VAF mutations at hotspots by sufficient sequencing coverage and carefully tuned algorithms is imperative for a clinical assay., High-throughput sequencing is used to identify somatic variants in cancer patients. Here, the authors perform panel-based profiling of 5095 clinical samples and demonstrate that many clinically-actionable variants have low variant allele fractions, requiring assays with high detection sensitivity.

Purpose To assess efficacy and safety of palbociclib plus fulvestrant in Asians with endocrine therapy–resistant metastatic breast cancer. Patients and Methods The Palbociclib Ongoing Trials in the Management of Breast Cancer 3 (PALOMA-3) trial, a double-blind phase III study, included 521 patients with hormone receptor–positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–negative metastatic breast cancer with disease progression on endocrine therapy. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) were assessed on study treatment and at the end of treatment. Results This preplanned subgroup analysis of the PALOMA-3 study included premenopausal and postmenopausal Asians taking palbociclib plus fulvestrant (n = 71) or placebo plus fulvestrant (n = 31). Palbociclib plus fulvestrant improved progression-free survival (PFS) compared with fulvestrant alone. Median PFS was not reached with palbociclib plus fulvestrant (95% CI, 9.2 months to not reached) but was 5.8 months with placebo plus fulvestrant (95% CI, 3.5 to 9.2 months; hazard ratio, 0.485; 95% CI, 0.270 to 0.869; P = .0065). The most common all-cause grade 3 or 4 adverse events in the palbociclib arm were neutropenia (92%) and leukopenia (29%); febrile neutropenia occurred in 4.1% of patients. Within-patient mean trough concentration comparisons across subgroups indicated similar palbociclib exposure between Asians and non-Asians. Global quality of life was maintained; no statistically significant changes from baseline were observed for patient-reported outcome scores with palbociclib plus fulvestrant. Conclusion This is the first report, to our knowledge, showing that palbociclib plus fulvestrant improves PFS in asian patients. Palbociclib plus fulvestrant was well tolerated in this study.

BackgroundPatients who have residual invasive carcinoma after the receipt of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)–negative breast cancer have poor prognoses. The benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy in these patients remains unclear. MethodsWe randomly assigned 910 patients with HER2-negative residual invasive breast cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (containing anthracycline, taxane, or both) to receive standard postsurgical treatment either with capecitabine or without (control). The primary end point was disease-free survival. Secondary end points included overall survival. ResultsThe result of the prespecified interim analysis met the primary end point, so this trial was terminated early. The final analysis showed that disease-free survival was longer in the capecitabine group than in the control group (74.1% vs. 67.6% of the patients were alive and free from recurrence or second cancer at 5 years; hazard ratio for recurrence, second cancer, or death, 0.70; 95% ...

Purpose Eribulin mesilate was approved for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer (MBC), who had received at least two chemotherapeutic regimens, including anthracycline and taxane. On the other hand, the efficacy and safety information of eribulin in Korean patients is limited by the lack of clinical trials. Materials and methods In this multicenter, open-label, single-arm, phase IV study, locally advanced or MBC patients were enrolled between June 2013 and April 2014 from 14 centers in Korea. One point four mg/m2 dose of eribulin was administered on days 1 and 8 of every 21 days. The primary endpoint was the frequency and intensity of the treatment emergent adverse event. The secondary endpoint was the disease control rate, which included the rate of complete responses, partial responses, and stable disease. Results A total of 101 patients received at least one dose of eribulin and were included in the safety set. The patients received a total of 543 treatment cycles, with a median of three cycles (range, 1 to 31 cycles). The most common adverse event was neutropenia (91.1% of patients, 48.3% of cycles). The frequent non-hematological adverse events included alopecia, decrease in appetite, fatigue/asthenia, and myalgia/arthralgia. The peripheral neuropathy of any grade occurred in 27 patients (26.7%), including grade 3 in two patients. Disease control rate was 52.7% and 51.3% of patients in the full analysis set and per-protocol set, respectively. Conclusion This study demonstrated the feasible safety profile and activity of eribulin in Korean patients with MBC.

Aim The aim of this study is to investigate whether the addition of TSU-68 would affect on the quality of life (QOL) of Korean metastatic breast cancer patients treated with docetaxel. Methods Sixty-three of 78 patients completed the baseline QOL questionnaires and at least one follow-up questionnaire comprising questions from the Korean Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Breast (FACT-B), hospital anxiety and depression scale (HAD), the shortened form of the profile of mood states (BPOMS), and anticipation and anxiety for treatment scale. Changes in QOL scores from baseline were compared by analysis of covariance at each time point (6, 12 weeks, 9, 12 and 18 months) and at the end of treatment (EOT), and the longitudinal changes over time were evaluated by repeated measure analysis. Results The two-treatment groups (TSU-68 plus docetaxel [A] vs docetaxel alone [B]) were well balanced regarding sociodemographic characteristics, including age (P = 0.450), religion (P = 1.000), education (P = 0.257), ECOG performance status (P = 0.261), and employment status (P = 0.325). The return rate at EOT was 61.9%. In analyses at each QOL measuring time, A group showed a higher FACT-B total score and FACT-G score than B at 12 months (P = 0.031 and P = 0.024, respectively). The anticipation and anxiety for treatment scale of A group was higher than that of B at 12 weeks and EOT (P = 0.046 and P = 0.022, respectively). However, repeated measure analysis for longitudinal changes over time showed no significant group wise differences. Conclusions The combination of TSU-68 with docetaxel showed no additional adverse effects on patient QOL during the study period, as compared with docetaxel monotherapy.