Abstract PS03-03: The spatially resolved single-cell atlas of the tumor immune architecture revealed the central role of IFN-alpha and plasmacytoid dendritic cells in triple-negative breast cancer in the Mayo Clinic cohort and FinXX trial
Authors: Chumsri Saranya , Liu Yi , Ma Yaohua , Carter Jodi , Gregory Mark , Church Sarah , Reeves Jason , Brauer Heather Ann , Warren Sarah , Joensuu Heikki , Perez Edith , Leon-Ferre Roberto , Hillman David , Boughey Judy , Ingle James , Kalari Krishna , Couch Fergus , Goetz Matthew , Knutson Keith , Thompson E. 
Published: May 2024

Background:

Multiple studies have confirmed the central role of preexisting immune response measured by stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Emerging studies showed that not only the number of TILs but also the location of TILs is important. There are 3 distinct immune architectures described based on the amount and locations of TILs, namely immune enriched (IN), immune excluded (IE), and immune desert (ID). Here we evaluated outcomes and characteristics associated with each immune landscape.

Methods:

NanoString Digital Spatial Profiling (DSP) and CosMx, a spatial multi-omics single-cell imaging platform, were performed in 75 samples from the Mayo Clinic (MC) TNBC cohort (Leon-Ferre BCRT 2018). NanoString IO360 was performed in 114 samples from the FinXX trial ( NCT00114816) . Firstly, tumors with sTIL quantified by H&E ≤ 30% were classified as ID. The rest of the tumors with high sTIL &gt; 30% were categorized according to the intratumoral CD8 protein expression by DSP, with IE having intratumoral CD8 in the lower median and IN having intratumoral CD8 in the upper median. Chi-square test, gene set enrichment, Cox regression, and Kaplan-Meier analysis were used. Differential expression listed as log 2-fold change (FC) was estimated from the linear mixed model with significance defined as two-sided p&lt; 0.05.

Results:

ID is associated with low Ki67 &lt; 5% (23.3% vs. 9.6% ID, p 0.02) as well as apocrine (11/13, 84.6%) and metaplastic histology (10/12, 83%). In both univariate and multivariate analysis, patients with IN had significantly improved recurrence-free survival (RFS) compared to those with ID (HR 0.37, 95%CI 0.18-0.74, p 0.005). Despite having high sTILs, IE had poor outcomes similar to ID (HR 0.84, 95%CI 0.36-1.98). Strikingly, we identified that IE patients had significantly lower plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) compared to IN (mean 0 vs. 0.26/100 tumor cells, 95%CI 0.08-0.43 , p 0.01). Using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis to evaluate differential hallmarks between IN and IE, we identified IF Nɑ and IFNγ (FDR &lt; 0.001) responses as significantly enriched in IN group, consistent wi th the function of pDCs, which are a subset of dendritic cells specialized in secreting high levels of type I interferon. To validate this finding, we further evaluated the 11 leading edge gene IFNɑ signature in the FinXX trial. A high IFNɑ signature score was associated with significantly improved outcomes in the FinXX trial (HR 0.21, 95%CI 0.09-0.51 , p &lt; 0.001). Similar findings were observed using Kaplan-Meier analysis in the FinXX trial with significantly improved RFS (p 0.0006) and overall survival (p 0.0001) in patients with high IFNɑ signature scores. Furthermore, we evaluated the differential gene expression unique to IN tumors in the Mayo cohort. Expressions of MHC class I and class II in tumor cells, including HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C, HLA-DRA, HLA-DRB1, HLA-DPA1, and HLA-E, were associated with IN and significantly improved outcomes (p &lt; 0.05) compared to ID and IE.

Conclusions:

Highlighting the importance of spatial context, we identified that patients with IE tumors had poor outcomes despite having high TILs. Moreover, u sing an in-depth analysis with spatially defined context, we identified the central role of pDC and the significance of IF Nɑ in TNBC.

Support:

Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer SPORE (P50CA116201-17)

W81XWH-15-1-0292, P50CA015083, R35CA253187

Citation Format: Saranya Chumsri, Yi Liu, Yaohua Ma, Jodi Carter, Mark Gregory, Sarah Church, Jason Reeves, Heather Ann Brauer, Sarah Warren, Heikki Joensuu, Edith Perez, Roberto Leon-Ferre, David Hillman, Judy Boughey, James Ingle, Krishna Kalari, Fergus Couch, Matthew Goetz, Keith Knutson, E. Thompson. The spatially resolved single-cell atlas of the tumor immune architecture revealed the central role of IFN-alpha and plasmacytoid dendritic cells in triple-negative breast cancer in the Mayo Clinic cohort and FinXX trial [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PS03-03.