Abstract P5-13-18: Upregulation of immune response biomarkers by ribociclib plus endocrine therapy (ET) in paired tumor samples from phase I studies
Authors: Juric Dejan , Ma Chong , Tiedt Ralph , Yap Yoon-Sim , Chiu Joanne , Munster Pamela , Ismail-Khan Roohi , Garcia-Estevez Laura , Mayer Ingrid A. , Becerra Carlos , Solovieff Nadia , Lteif Agnes , Su Faye , Lu Yen-Shen 
Published: March 2022

Background: In addition to inhibiting cell cycle progression, CDK4/6 inhibitors have been found to modulate anti-cancer immune response (Goel S, et al. Nature. 2017;548:471-475). Data from preclinical studies suggested multiple mechanisms—involving changes in both cancer cells and immune cells—by which CDK4/6 inhibition can enhance anti-cancer immunity. These mechanisms include increased antigen presentation, interferon response triggering, and regulatory T-cell suppression. Clinical correlates to preclinical observations have so far been obtained using paired biopsies from neoadjuvant breast cancer trials (Johnston S, et al. J Clin Oncol. 2019;37:178-189; Hurvitz S, et al. Clin Cancer Res. 2020; ;26:566-80). Here, we describe a gene expression analysis of paired pre- and on-treatment biopsies from CLEE011A2115C and CLEE011X2107, two phase I clinical trials evaluating ribociclib in combination with ET in the metastatic breast cancer (MBC) setting. Methods: The nCounter PanCancer IO 360 Panel (NanoString) was used to quantify expression of 770 genes in 7 pairs of tumor samples (baseline vs. cycle 1 day 15) from two phase I trials in the MBC setting (5 patients from CLEE011A2115C and 2 from CLEE011X2107). All patients were treated with ribociclib and an ET. Pairwise differential gene expression analysis of individual genes and previously published immune-related gene signatures was conducted (Bedognetti D, et al. Curr Opin Oncol. 2015;27:433-444). Results: Many genes that were markedly suppressed with treatment (eg, MKI67, MYC, CDK2, CCNB1, TYMS, and DNMT1) were related to proliferation, DNA replication, and G1/S transition of the cell cycle, as expected. Interestingly, expression of numerous genes involved in immune response was increased. These were mostly interferon-regulated genes; particularly, a gene signature indicative of a T cell-inflamed tumor microenvironment (Ayers M, et al. J Clin Invest. 2017;127:2930-2940) was upregulated. Immune-related genes tended to preferentially increase with treatment in patients who later experienced a clinical response. Since bulk RNA from tumor biopsies was analyzed, we could not distinguish whether the observed expression changes reflected increased infiltration by immune cells or an endogenous interferon response in cancer cells. The latter could be triggered by DNMT1 suppression (as previously described), which then promotes T cell-mediated immunity by increasing antigen presentation and chemokine production in cancer cells. Conclusions: This analysis was conducted with a small sample size and is considered hypothesis generating; further investigation is needed. Cell cycle and proliferation markers showed robust suppression by ribociclib-based treatment regimens, as expected. Conversely, a notable increase in immune-related genes was detected that tended to occur preferentially in patients who later experienced more favorable clinical outcomes. Both changes occurred early (cycle 1 day 15). To our knowledge, this is the first clinical biomarker report of immune activation mediated by CDK4/6 inhibition in MBC.

Citation Format: Dejan Juric, Chong Ma, Ralph Tiedt, Yoon-Sim Yap, Joanne Chiu, Pamela Munster, Roohi Ismail-Khan, Laura Garcia-Estevez, Ingrid A. Mayer, Carlos Becerra, Nadia Solovieff, Agnes Lteif, Faye Su, Yen-Shen Lu. Upregulation of immune response biomarkers by ribociclib plus endocrine therapy (ET) in paired tumor samples from phase I studies [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 P5-13-18.