Abstract GS3-08: Multiplatform analysis of matched primary and metastatic breast tumors from the AURORA US Network
Authors: King Tari A , Liu Minetta C , McClure Marni B , Hinoue Toshinori , Kelly Benjamin J , Creighton Chad J , Bowen Jay , Leraas Kristen , Burns Robyn T , Coppens Sara , Rezk Salma , Garrett Amy L , Balko Justin M , Parker Joel S , Park Ben H , Krop Ian , Anders Carey , Hoadley Katherine A , Gastier-Foster Julie , Rimawi Mothaffar F , Nanda Rita , Lin Nancy U , Isaacs Claudine , Marcom P. Kelly , Storniolo Anna Maria , Couch Fergus J , Mardis Elaine R , Lee Adrian V , Chandran Uma , Laird Peter W , Hilsenbeck Susan G , Norton Larry , Richardson Andrea L , Symmans W. Fraser , Carey Lisa A , Wolff Antonio C , Davidson Nancy E , Perou Charles M ,   the AURORA US Network
Published: March 2020

Background: It has become increasingly clear that effective treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) requires an in-depth understanding of the molecular differences between primary tumors and metastases. The AURORA US Network was established to collect primary breast cancer-metastasis pairs for multi-platform genomic profiling in order to identify the molecular drivers of metastatic disease. AURORA US has both a retrospective and prospective phase. This is the first report of the retrospective phase.

Methods: Archived tissue samples from the primary tumor and at least one distant metastasis were retrospectively collected from 83 MBC patients. Following internal quality assessment, samples from 55 pts, including 105 distinct metastatic lesions, were subject to DNA low pass whole genome and exome sequencing, DNA methylation arrays, and RNA sequencing. Early analyses of these multi-platform data include: DNA methylation, tumor gene expression and microenvironmental signatures, somatic and germline variants, DNA copy number changes, and structural variants between breast primaries and matched metastases.

Results: Median age at diagnosis was 49 years (25-76); 32 (58%) were Stage I or II at presentation, 27 (49%) had a family history of breast cancer, and 20 (36%) had a second breast primary. Median disease-free interval before developing MBC was 2 years (range 0-36, 5 patients presented with Stage IV). Median overall survival from initial presentation was 4 years (range 0-37). Median survival after developing MBC was 1 year (range 0-13), with a median of three treatments. Primary tissue samples were banked from 1977-2017 and metastases were banked from 1999-2017. Clinical phenotypes of the primaries included 27 HR+ (49%), 15 triple negative (TNBC, 27%), and 11 HER2+ (20%, 12 missing HER2 status). Intrinsic subtype distribution of the primaries included 17 Basal-like (31%), 17 Luminal A (31%), 7 Normal-like (13%), 5 HER2-enriched (9%), and 1 Luminal B, with 8 pending. All metastases from the Basal-like cases remained Basal-like, while metastases from luminal primaries tended to gain HER2-Enriched subtype features (5/18, p = 0.01). Overall, we identified significant metastasis-enriched alterations in metabolism pathways, an increase in proliferation, and the loss of differentiation signatures and immune infiltrates with progression; the latter being the most pronounced in brain metastases. The most frequent somatic mutations in this cohort were in TP53, NCOR1, and RUNX1. Interestingly, ERBB2, EGFR, and ATM were also mutated in ≥10% of the tumors sequenced. In almost all cases, CpG island hypermethylation was clonally present in the primary tumor and persisted stably in the majority of metastatic lesions. Promoter CpG island hypermethylation was also identified in some metastatic lesions at JAM3, an important cellular adhesion molecule,and this was accompanied by reduced mRNA expression.

CONCLUSIONS: Collection of banked primary and metastatic tissue pairs identified a young MBC cohort with a high frequency of breast cancer family history and second breast primaries. Molecular characterization of luminal tumor pairs highlighted acquisition of aggressive traits including increased proliferation and loss of differentiation in the metastases. In contrast, basal-like pairs remained relatively unchanged, except for the loss of immune activation. Ongoing analyses to be presented include clonal heterogeneity and phylogeny, novel metastasis signature discovery, gene fusion, and endogenous retrovirus detection.

Citation Format: Tari A King, Minetta C Liu, Marni B McClure, Toshinori Hinoue, Benjamin J Kelly, Chad J Creighton, Jay Bowen, Kristen Leraas, Robyn T Burns, Sara Coppens, Salma Rezk, Amy L Garrett, Justin M Balko, Joel S Parker, Ben H Park, Ian Krop, Carey Anders, Katherine A Hoadley, Julie Gastier-Foster, Mothaffar F Rimawi, Rita Nanda, Nancy U Lin, Claudine Isaacs, P. Kelly Marcom, Anna Maria Storniolo, Fergus J Couch, Elaine R Mardis, Adrian V Lee, Uma Chandran, Peter W Laird, Susan G Hilsenbeck, Larry Norton, Andrea L Richardson, W. Fraser Symmans, Lisa A Carey, Antonio C Wolff, Nancy E Davidson, Charles M Perou, the AURORA US Network. Multiplatform analysis of matched primary and metastatic breast tumors from the AURORA US Network [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr GS3-08.