Abstract P5-14-01: Transcriptomic insights into lobular breast cancer biology: a retrospective analysis of the MINDACT clinical trial
Authors: Desmedt Christine , Nguyen Ha-Linh , Richard François , Linn Sabine , Metzger Otto , Poncet Coralie , Wesseling Jelle , Hilbers Florentine , Aalders Kim , Delorenzi Mauro , Delaloge Suzette , Pierga Jean-Yves , Brain Etienne , Vrijaldenhoven Suzan , Neijenhuis Peter A , Van Baelen Karen , Maetens Marion , Rutgers Emiel , Piccart Martine , Van ’t Veer Laura , Viale Giuseppe , Cardoso Fatima 
Published: March 2023

Background: Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) represents the second most common subtype of breast cancer after invasive breast cancer of no special type (NST). In this retrospective analysis of the MINDACT trial, we aimed at identifying/refining the transcriptomic differences between: 1) estrogen receptor positive/HER2-negative (ER+/HER2-) ILC versus ER+/HER2- NST, 2) classic and non-classic ER+/HER2- ILC, and, 3) recurring and non-recurring ER+/HER2- ILC in the subgroup of patients with a low clinical and low genomic (cL/gL) risk (as defined by a modified version of Adjuvant Online! and the 70-gene signature). Patients and methods: Central pathology review was performed for histological subtype, grade and Ki67 (G.V.) for 5929/6693 (88.6%) of the patients included in the MINDACT trial (NCT00433589). Analysis of transcriptomic data adjusted for age and grade was performed using the R/Bioconductor package ‘limma’ to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). DEGs having absolute log-fold change (logFC)≥ 0.2 and FDR-adjusted p-value (q-value) &lt; 0.05 were considered. Gene set enrichment analyses (GSEA) of MSigDB hallmark gene sets were performed. Adjusted Cox regression models were used to evaluate the association of these hallmarks with disease free survival (DFS) and distant recurrence free survival (DRFS). Results: After central pathological review, 464 patients with ER+/HER2- ILC and 3798 patients with ER+/HER2- NST were identified. Patients with ILC were significantly older at diagnosis, had larger tumors, less axillary nodal involvement, more grade 2 tumors than patients with NST. At the transcriptomic level, we observed a high number of DEGs between these 2 subgroups, confirming their distinct phenotype. CDH1, the gene coding for E-cadherin, was as expected the most highly overexpressed gene in NST versus ILC. We further observed an increased expression of leptin (LEP), leptin receptor (LEPR), lipoprotein lipase (LPL), and the fatty acid transporter CD36 in ILC. This could suggest that ILC relied on increased lipid uptake thanks to the increased contact of ILC tumor cells with the adipocytes. IGF1 was also overexpressed in ILC versus NST, as a potential consequence of high LEP and high LEPR expression. Differences were also evident with regard to the extracellular matrix (ECM), with many collagens, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and other key enzymes (e.g. LOXL1) being differentially expressed. We confirmed a decreased ER-signaling and increased PI3K/Akt signaling in ILC versus NST. Out of the 464 ER+/HER2- ILC tumors, 253 (55%) were classic ILC and 211 (45%) non-classic ILC. There were more grade 3 tumors, more highly proliferative tumors and more nodal involvement in patients with non-classic versus classic ILC. At the transcriptomic level, differences were subtler than the differences seen above. Still, a significant enrichment of the hallmarks related to cell cycle in the non-classic ILC, and of the hallmarks related to epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, hypoxia, adipogenesis and IL6/JAK/STAT3 signaling in classic ILC was observed. Finally, 216/464 patients with ER+/HER2- ILC (47%) were assigned to the cL/gL risk group and did not receive chemotherapy. 28/216 of these patients (13%) relapsed (DFS, median FU: 8.7 years). Enrichment of hallmarks related to apoptosis, inflammatory response, hypoxia and oncogenic signaling (PI3K/Akt, Ras, c-Myc) was associated with worse survival. Conclusion: This represents, to the best of our knowledge, the largest set of gene expression data for patients with ILC, issued from a clinical trial where histology was reviewed centrally. These results could be used to personalize treatment for patients with ILC. This project is funded by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Citation Format: Christine Desmedt, Ha-Linh Nguyen, François Richard, Sabine Linn, Otto Metzger, Coralie Poncet, Jelle Wesseling, Florentine Hilbers, Kim Aalders, Mauro Delorenzi, Suzette Delaloge, Jean-Yves Pierga, Etienne Brain, Suzan Vrijaldenhoven, Peter A Neijenhuis, Karen Van Baelen, Marion Maetens, Emiel Rutgers, Martine Piccart, Laura Van ’t Veer, Giuseppe Viale, Fatima Cardoso. Transcriptomic insights into lobular breast cancer biology: a retrospective analysis of the MINDACT clinical trial [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-14-01.