Abstract PD2-04: Molecular plasticity of luminal breast cancer and response to CDK 4/6 inhibition - The biomarker program of the PENELOPE-B trial investigating post-neoadjuvant palbociclib
Authors: Denkert Carsten , Marmé Frederik , Martin Miguel , Untch Michael , Bonnefoi Hervé , Kim Sung-Bae , Bear Harry , Witkiewicz Agnieszka , Im Seock-Ah , DeMichele Angela , Van’t Veer Laura , McCarthy Nicole , Stiewe Thorsten , Gelmon Karen A. , García-Sáenz José A. , Kelly Catherine M. , Reimer Toralf , Knudsen Erik , Turner Nicholas , Rojo Federico , Fasching Peter A. , Teply-Szymanski Julia , Liu Yuan , Toi Masakazu , Rugo Hope S. , Gnant Michael , Makris Andreas , Felder Bärbel , Weber Karsten , Loibl Sibylle 
Published: March 2022

Background: Molecular plasticity of breast cancer is crucial for the development of therapy-resistant disease. In this investigation, we studied changes in molecular signatures between pretherapeutic (pre-Tx) and post-therapeutic (post-NACT) tumor samples from patients included in the PENELOPE-B (NCT01864746) trial. The phase III PENELOPE-B study did not show a significant benefit from palbociclib in women with centrally confirmed HR+, HER2- primary breast cancer without a pathological complete response after taxane-containing neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) and at high-risk of relapse (CPS-EG score ≥3 or 2 and ypN+) (Loibl et al. JCO 2021). However, first translational investigations showed that a small number of patients with a luminal-B tumor subtype, based on absolute intrinsic molecular subtyping (AIMS, Paquet & Hallet, JNCI 2014) subtyping after NACT, had a numerical benefit from post-NACT palbociclib. We have therefore extended the analysis and included a cohort of paired pre-Tx and post-NACT samples. Methods: We investigated gene expression in pre-Tx (n=259) tumor tissue samples using the HTG EdgeSeq Oncology Biomarker Panel including 2549 genes (HTG Molecular Diagnostics Inc.); for the same patients the same panel on post-NACT residual tumor samples were available. The paired samples were selected based on a case-cohort approach. Based on 91 genes of this panel, the AIMS subtype was calculated. In addition, we performed exploratory biomarker analyses to identify genes and gene signatures with prognostic and predictive relevance. After completion of NACT, PENELOPE-B patients were randomized to palbociclib versus placebo in addition to standard endocrine therapy. Results: The prevalence of AIMS subtypes, in particular LumA vs LumB, changed in pre-Tx and post-NACT tumors. In the pre-Tx samples, 115 (44%) and 123 (47%) of tumors had LumA and LumB subtypes, respectively, as expected from a high-risk cohort. However, in the post-NACT samples, LumA tumors were predominant (n=183, 71%) over LumB (n=30; 12%). 78 (30%) and 6 (2%) tumors switched their subtype from LumB to LumA and LumA to LumB, respectively. For further analyses, we compared the groups of low proliferating (LumA and NormL) and high proliferating subtypes (LumB, BasalL and HER2E). In bivariable Cox regression analysis, the grouped pre-Tx and post-NACT AIMS subtypes were independent prognostic factors for iDFS: HR=1.85 (1.16-2.98, p=0.011) for pre-Tx LumB/BasalL/HER2E vs LumA/NormL and HR=2.18 (1.24-3.84, p=0.007) for post-NACT. Similar results were found when adjusted for prognostic clinical factors and for DDFS and OS endpoints although the pre-Tx subtype did not reach significance. These and further Cox models investigating interaction effects show that patients with tumors developing from high (pre-Tx) to low proliferation (post-NACT) had a higher iDFS risk compared to stable low proliferating tumors but a lower iDFS risk compared to stable high proliferating tumors. Neither in the pre-Tx LumB/BasalL/HER2E nor in the pre-Tx LumA/NormL subgroup a benefit from palbociclib was observed. Based on the results of the AIMS subtyping, we extended the exploratory analysis to identify genes that might be involved in the prognostic and predictive effects as well as genes driving the subtype switch. The analysis is ongoing and the relevant genes will be presented at the conference. Conclusions: Our findings show that the switch from high-risk molecular subtypes (in particular LumB) to low-risk subtypes (in particular LumA) is common in neoadjuvant therapy of luminal tumors. The adaptation of luminal high-risk tumors to therapy-induced stress is crucial for the clinical outcome and the results suggest that molecular defined tumor subtypes might not be as stable as originally thought.

Citation Format: Carsten Denkert, Frederik Marmé, Miguel Martin, Michael Untch, Hervé Bonnefoi, Sung-Bae Kim, Harry Bear, Agnieszka Witkiewicz, Seock-Ah Im, Angela DeMichele, Laura Van’t Veer, Nicole McCarthy, Thorsten Stiewe, Karen A. Gelmon, José A. García-Sáenz, Catherine M. Kelly, Toralf Reimer, Erik Knudsen, Nicholas Turner, Federico Rojo, Peter A. Fasching, Julia Teply-Szymanski, Yuan Liu, Masakazu Toi, Hope S. Rugo, Michael Gnant, Andreas Makris, Bärbel Felder, Karsten Weber, Sibylle Loibl. Molecular plasticity of luminal breast cancer and response to CDK 4/6 inhibition - The biomarker program of the PENELOPE-B trial investigating post-neoadjuvant palbociclib [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PD2-04.