NR2F1 stratifies dormant disseminated tumor cells in breast cancer patients

Background: The presence of disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) in bone marrow (BM) is an independent prognostic factor in early breast cancer but does not uniformly predict outcome. Tumor cells can persist in a quiescent state over time, but clinical studies of markers predicting the awakening potential of DTCs are lacking. Recently, experiments have shown that NR2F1 (COUP-TF1) plays a key role in dormancy signaling. Methods: We analyzed the NR2F1 expression in DTCs by double immunofluorescence (DIF) staining of extra cytospins prepared from 114 BM samples from 86 selected DTC-positive breast cancer patients. Samples collected at two or more time points were available for 24 patients. Fifteen samples were also analyzed for the proliferation marker Ki67. Results: Of the patients with detectable DTCs by DIF, 27% had ≥ 50% NR2F1high DTCs, chosen a priori as the cut-off for “dormant profile” classification. All patients with systemic relapse within 12 months after BM aspiration carried ≤ 1% NR2F1high DTCs, including patients who transitioned from having NR2F1high-expressing DTCs in previous BM samples. Of the patients with serial samples, half of those with no relapse at follow-up had ≥ 50% NR2F1high DTCs in the last BM aspiration analyzed. Among the 18 relapse-free patients at the time of the last DTC-positive BM aspiration with no subsequent BM analysis performed, distant disease-free intervals were favorable for patients carrying ≥ 50% NR2F1high DTCs compared with those with predominantly NR2F1low DTCs (p = 0.007, log-rank). No survival difference was observed by classification according to Ki67-expressing DTCs (p = 0.520). Conclusions: Our study translates findings from basic biological analysis of DTC dormancy to the clinical situation and supports further clinical studies of NR2F1 as a marker of dormancy

Impact of Prosigna test on adjuvant treatment decision in lymph node-negative early breast cancer—a prospective national multicentre study (EMIT-1)

Background: EMIT-1 is a national, observational, single-arm trial designed to assess the value of the Prosigna, Prediction Analysis of Microarray using the 50 gene classifier (PAM50)/Risk of Recurrence (ROR), test as a routine diagnostic tool, examining its impact on adjuvant treatment decisions, clinical outcomes, side-effects and cost-effectiveness. Here we present the impact on treatment decisions. Patients and methods: Patients with hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative pT1-pT2 lymph node-negative early breast cancer (EBC) were included. The Prosigna test and standard histopathology assessments were carried out. Clinicians’ treatment decisions were recorded before (pre-Prosigna) and after (postProsigna) the Prosigna test results were disclosed. Results: Of 2217 patients included, 2178 had conclusive Prosigna results. The pre-Prosigna treatment decisions were: no systemic treatment (NT) in 27% of patients, endocrine treatment alone (ET) in 38% and chemotherapy (CT) followed by ET (CT þ ET) in 35%. Post-Prosigna treatment decisions were 25% NT, 51% ET and 24% CT þ ET, respectively. Adjuvant treatment changed in 28% of patients, including 21% change in CT use. Among patients assigned to CT þ ET preProsigna, 45% were de-escalated to ET post-Prosigna. Of patients assigned to ET, 12% were escalated to CT þ ET and 8% were de-escalated to NT; of those assigned to NT, 18% were escalated to ET/CT þ ET. CT was more frequently recommended for patients aged 50 years. In the subgroup with pT1c-pT2 G2 and intermediate Ki67 (0.5- 1.5 local laboratory median Ki67 score), the pre-Prosigna CT treatment decision varied widely across hospitals (3%- 51%). Post-Prosigna, the variability of CT use was markedly reduced (8%-24%). The correlation between Ki67 and ROR score within this subgroup was poor (r ¼ 0.25-0.39). The median ROR score increased by increasing histological grade, but the ROR score ranges were wide (for G1 0-79, G2 0-90, G3 16-94). Conclusion: The Prosigna test result changed adjuvant treatment decisions in all EBC clinical risk groups, markedly decreased the CT use for patients categorized as higher clinical risk pre-Prosigna and reduced treatment decision discrepancies between hospitals

Proceedings Of The 23Rd Paediatric Rheumatology European Society Congress: Part Two

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