Abstract P2-05-13: Detection of splice variants related to endocrine resistant hormone receptor-positive breast cancer
Authors: Lee H-B , Kim M-S , Rhu J , Park JH , Kim KE , Ju YW , Lee E-S , Moon H-G , Noh D-Y , Kim S , Han W 
Published: February 2018

Introduction: Estrogen receptor is expressed in 75% of breast cancers and is related to a relatively indolent phenotype. Yet, up to 25% of these tumors develop resistance to endocrine therapy. Alternative splicing events are observed in almost every hallmarks of cancer, implying that dysregulation of splicing and cancer progression are closely related. The purpose of this study was to detect splice variants related to endocrine resistance in hormone receptor(HR)-positive breast cancer.

Methods: RNA sequencing data of 455 HR-positive patients with documented endocrine treatment from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database was used for analysis. Splice variants of 96 ESR1 pathway-related genes were detected using a data-mining algorithm recognizing spliceomic heterogeneity. A differential analysis of splice variants between 48 endocrine therapy-resistant and 407 endocrine therapy-responsive patients was performed to discover isoforms frequently detected in endocrine-resistant tumors. Isoforms related to endocrine resistance was further analyzed using whole transcriptome sequencing data from 59 HR-positive invasive breast cancer patients (24 endocrine therapy-resistant, 35 endocrine therapy-responsive who underwent operation at Seoul National University Hospital.

Results: Of 96 ESR1 pathway-related genes, 17 genes showed statistically different splice variant isoforms frequencies (AKT1, ATF2, ATF4, CALM2, CALM3, CREB1, EGFR, ESR1, ESR2, GRM1, HRAS, HSP90AA1, OPRM1, PIK3R3, PRKACB, SHC1, and SHC4). A differential analysis of these isoforms using SNUH data confirmed a predominant isoform of HRAS (64.47% vs 57.14%, p-value 0.0037) and a minor isoform of SHC1 (25.53% vs 32.33%, p-value 0.0456) in endocrine therapy-resistant HR-positive patients. In the same analysis using HR-negative patients, the mean isoform percentage was similar between patients with distant recurrence and no recurrence.

Potential Spliceomic Signatures Reproduced From Seoul National University Hospital Data Hormone Receptor Positive Hormone Receptor negative GeneMean Isoform % in Resistant SpecimensMean Isoform % in Responsive Specimensp-valueMean Isoform % in Resistant SpecimensMean Isoform % in Responsive Specimensp-valueHRAS64.4757.140.003757.9758.850.8413SHC125.5332.330.045628.3632.580.2551

Conclusions: Phenotype-specific splice variants can be detected using transcriptome sequencing data. Splice variants in HRAS and SHC1 are potential spliceomic signatures that may be used to predict endocrine therapy-resistant breast cancer. Further investigation is warranted to explore the biological role of these isoforms and identify the role of splice variants as a biomarker for endocrine resistance.

Citation Format: Lee H-B, Kim M-S, Rhu J, Park JH, Kim KE, Ju YW, Lee E-S, Moon H-G, Noh D-Y, Kim S, Han W. Detection of splice variants related to endocrine resistant hormone receptor-positive breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-05-13.