Abstract 1973: Patients with operable esophageal cancer and improved responses to combined chemoradiotherapy and immunotherapy display distinct microbiome profiles enriched in multiple Bacteroides species
Authors: Shaikh Fyza Y. , White James R. , Kelly Ronan J. , Zaidi Ali H. , Canzoniero Jenna V. , Feliciano Josephine L. , Hales Russell K. , Voong K Ranh , Battafarano Richard J. , Jobe Blair A. , Yang Stephen C. , Broderick Stephen , Ha Jinny , Smith Kellie N. , Thompson Elizabeth , Shin Eun J. , Amjad Ali I. , Guerrieri Patrizia , Weksler Benny , Hu Chen , Anagnostou Valsamo , Lam Vincent K. , Sears Cynthia L. 
Published: June 2022

Background: Preclinical and clinical data indicate that neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) may prime an anti-tumor immunological response in esophageal cancer driven by intratumoral CD8+ T cells and PD-L1 expression. LAG-3 is also highly expressed in esophagogastric cancers. The microbiome, a novel and potentially modifiable, biomarker of IO response, has not yet been examined in the neoadjuvant setting in esophageal cancer and is the goal of our study.

Methods: Fecal samples were collected from patients with stage II/III esophageal or gastroesophageal junction carcinoma eligible for curative resection treated with the standard of care regimen of carboplatin paclitaxel (50mg/m2), radiation 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions and an Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy 6-10 weeks after last CRT and immunotherapy (IO) dose. Patients on arm A (n=11) received 2 cycles of induction with nivolumab plus 3 additional cycles on week 1, 3 and 5 of CRT. Patients on arm B (n=8) received nivolumab plus relatlimab on the same schedule (Clinical trial: NCT03044613). We examined longitudinal fecal samples from n=19 patients across both arms (n=90 samples) using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Patients were classified based on pathological response: complete response (CR) and grades 1, 2, and 3 (G1, G2, G3) with increasing residual tumor visible in the resected specimen. Sequencing data was trimmed and filtered for contaminants, followed by high-resolution taxonomic assignment and normalization of reads across all samples. Analysis was performed using multiple metrics for alpha diversity and beta-diversity, with principal coordinates analysis/PERMANOVA, and pathway analysis using Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt).

Results: Patients with improved response in the neoadjuvant setting (CR/G1 vs G2/G3) grouped in distinct clusters using Bray-Curtis (p &lt; 0.001). Patients with CR had higher alpha diversity, using both measures of richness and evenness, compared to patients with a G3 responses (p &lt; 0.03). Specifically, family Bacteroidaceae and genus Bacteroides were enriched in patients with CR vs G3 (p &lt; 0.02). At the species level, B. finegoldii, B. ovatus, and B. uniformis were enriched in patients with CR vs G3 (p &lt; 0.02). In contrast, genus Klebsiella and Clostridium termitidis were enriched in patients with a poor response, G3 (p &lt;0.001, both). Pathway analysis found two metabolic pathways enriched in patients with CR: secondary bile acid biosynthesis (p=0.005) and lysine biosynthesis (p=0.02).

Conclusions: Patients with operable esophageal cancer and improved responses to combined CRT and IO had distinct microbiome profiles enriched in multiple Bacteroides species. Further analyses and validation efforts are underway to confirm metabolomic pathways.

Citation Format: Fyza Y. Shaikh, James R. White, Ronan J. Kelly, Ali H. Zaidi, Jenna V. Canzoniero, Josephine L. Feliciano, Russell K. Hales, K Ranh Voong, Richard J. Battafarano, Blair A. Jobe, Stephen C. Yang, Stephen Broderick, Jinny Ha, Kellie N. Smith, Elizabeth Thompson, Eun J. Shin, Ali I. Amjad, Patrizia Guerrieri, Benny Weksler, Chen Hu, Valsamo Anagnostou, Vincent K. Lam, Cynthia L. Sears. Patients with operable esophageal cancer and improved responses to combined chemoradiotherapy and immunotherapy display distinct microbiome profiles enriched in multiple Bacteroides species [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 1973.