Abstract PS4-09: Pathologic features of the inter-regimen biopsy predict response to neoadjuvant therapy in the I-SPY 2 TRIAL
Authors: Carter Jodi M , Klein Molly E , Venters Sara J , Rabe Kimmie , Ocal I Tolgay , Singh Kamaljeet , Wolf Denise M , Sahoo Sunati , Harada Shuko , Khazai Laila , Harigopal Malini , Borowsky Alexander D , Krings Gregor , Balassanian Ronald , Chen Yunn-Yi , Cole Kimberley , Shad Sonal , Delson Amy , Brown-Swigart Lamorna ,   I-SPY 2 TRIAL Consortium, Esserman Laura , van ‘t Veer Laura , Symmans W Fraser 
Published: February 2021

Background: I-SPY 2 is a neoadjuvant platform trial open to patients with locally advanced, molecular high-risk breast cancer. In a concerted pursuit of mid-therapy response biomarkers, we evaluated inter-regimen biopsies, to identify patients who may be candidates for treatment de-escalation. In a pilot study, we observed that absence of carcinoma in an inter-regimen biopsy may predict pathologic complete response (pCR). In this expanded study of 100 participants, we sought to confirm that finding and assess pathologic features of the inter-regimen biopsy as predictors of tumor response to neoadjuvant therapy.

Methods: Digital H&E images of 100 inter-regimen (12 week) image-guided breast biopsies +/- ancillary immunohistochemistry (p63 and/or cytokeratin) were reviewed by 9 I-SPY affiliated pathologists to record 1) tumor bed and 2) presence/absence of residual invasive carcinoma (IC) (with tumor cellularity scored as 0-100%). The data set included 393 cores (mean 3.9 (2-4) cores/biopsy). Fisher’s exact t-test was used for association of presence/absence of IC with pCR, and tumoral hormone receptor (HR) and HER2 status. Association between biopsy tumor cellularity and residual cancer burden (RCB) indices used Pearson’s correlation.

Results: In the biopsy set, 84 (84%) had ≥80% inter-observer diagnostic agreement on both 1) presence of tumor bed and 2) presence/absence of IC (53 IC+ /31 IC-). IC+/IC- biopsies had equal numbers of evaluable tissue cores. The primary tumors were 63% HR+/37% HR-. The presence of IC in the biopsy correlated with tumoral HR/HER2 status (p=0.0014: 74%: HR+HER2-; 62%: TN; 60%: HR+HER2+; 10%: HR-HER2+). Of 31 patients with IC- biopsies, 25 (80%) went on to pCR, whereas only 7/53 (13%) of patients with IC+ biopsies had pCR, conferring an odds ratio for pCR of 26, Fisher p=7.5E-10. Overall, IC- biopsies had a positive predictive value (PPV) for pCR of 81%, with a PPV for HR- tumors of 94% vs. 67% for HR+ tumors (Table 1). In the 6 IC- biopsies from patients with non-pCR (“false-negatives”), most were HR+ (5/6, Table 1), and tumor bed size in the resection specimen was smaller than for IC+ biopsies with non-pCR: 276 mm2 (0.4-1000 mm2) vs. 1166 mm2 (1-11960 mm2). In contrast, the 46/53 IC+ biopsies in patients with non-pCR had a PPV for predicting non-pCR of 86%, (PPV for HR+ tumors: 94% vs. PPV for HR- tumors: 66%. Tumor cellularity in the biopsy (mean 37%, [2.5-93%]) did not correlate with RCB index (p=0.57) or RCB breast-only index (p = 0.17) at resection.

Conclusion: In this 100 biopsy set from the I-SPY2 trial, the absence of residual carcinoma in inter-regimen biopsies was highly predictive of pCR, particularly for HR- tumors. The “false-negative” biopsies (IC-/non-pCR) were predominantly HR+ tumors with small residual tumor beds at resection. Conversely, the presence of carcinoma in inter-regimen biopsies was highly predictive of non-pCR, particularly for HR+ tumors. These data demonstrate the utility, and the limitations, of the inter-regimen biopsy as one tool to identify patients who may benefit from therapeutic de-escalation.

Table 1: PPV for pCR/non-PCR by Inter-regimen Biopsy StatusInter-regimen biopsy with or without Invasive carcinoma (IC+/-)pCRnon-pCRPPV (Sensitivity) for pCR(IC- Biopsies)PPV (Sensitivity) for non-pCR(IC+ biopsies)IC- biopsiesAll25681% (78%)-HR+10567% (83%)-HR-15194% (75%)-IC+ biopsiesAll746-86% (88%)HR+236-94% (88%)HR-510-66% (91%)

Citation Format: Jodi M Carter, Molly E Klein, Sara J Venters, Kimmie Rabe, I Tolgay Ocal, Kamaljeet Singh, Denise M Wolf, Sunati Sahoo, Shuko Harada, Laila Khazai, Malini Harigopal, Alexander D Borowsky, Gregor Krings, Ronald Balassanian, Yunn-Yi Chen, Kimberley Cole, Sonal Shad, Amy Delson, Lamorna Brown-Swigart, I-SPY 2 TRIAL Consortium, Laura Esserman, Laura van ‘t Veer, W Fraser Symmans. Pathologic features of the inter-regimen biopsy predict response to neoadjuvant therapy in the I-SPY 2 TRIAL [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 PS4-09.