Abstract PO3-14-01: Heterogeneity of tumor immune microenvironment to predict everolimus efficacy in premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative adavanced breast cancer
Authors: Tan Yujing , Ma Fei , Wang Jiayu , Zhang Pin , Xu Binghe , Xue Liyan , Fan Ying 
Published: May 2024

Objective

Everolimus (EVE), a mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor, has been shown to prolong survival of patients with hormone receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HR+/HER2-), advanced breast cancer (ABC) with endocrine resistance. Preclinical studies have suggested that mTOR is closely associated with the tumor immune microenvironment (TME). We aimed to explore the tumor heterogeneity of TME between patients with different response to everolimus (EVE), and identify potential markers to predict efficacy of EVE in premenopausal patients with HR+/HER2−, advanced breast cancer (ABC) suffering endocrine resistance.

Methods

Patients were divided into two groups according to the best response to EVE: the responsive subgroup (RS) and the non-responsive subgroup (NRS). Postoperative tumor tissue from patients who received EVE was collected for whole exome sequencing. Transcript abundance of 126 distinct tumor regions of interest (ROIs) were quantitated using digital spatial profiling, including 42 tumor cell zones (TCZs), 42 immune cell zones (ICZs), and 42 stroma cell zones (SCZs). Based on investigation in multiple discrete areas, differences in cell components, function and pathway, gene expression and immune cell infiltration between RS and NRS were investigated.

Results

Totally, 93 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the ICZs, 174 DEGs in the TCZs, and 197 DEGs in the SCZs, using p&lt; 0.05 and |log2FC &gt;1| as the screening criterion. Among all the subgroup analyses on different ROIs, the statistical significance of PIP gene was the highest (ICZs: p=2.6E-12, TCZs: p=1.25E-20, SCZs: p=2.0E-18) in the comparison of RS and NRS. Moreover, we found that PIP was highly expressed in NRS and patients with a progression-free survival &lt; 1 year. The receptor-legend analysis showed that, the intra-and inter-cellular communication in RS was mainly mediated by interaction between CCL-CCR family, while NRS mainly by COL family complex. Comparing all cell components extracted from each ROI, no statistical differences were found between RS and NRS, only a statistical trend in the SCZs (p=0.098). Further cell classification analysis showed fibroblasts highest in TCZs and SCZs, macrophages in ICZs. Compared to NRS, in TCZs, fibroblasts were significantly increased (p=0.01), and plasma cells (p=0.02) and neutrophils (p=0.03) were decreased in RS. In SCZs, the downregulated fibroblasts (p=0.04) and enhanced plasma cells (p=0.01) were observed in NRS. In ICZs, pDCs (p=0.048) and neutrophils (p=0.006) were significantly elevated in NRS compared with RS.

Conclusion

The utility of digital spatial gene expression profiling might provide some references to predict the efficacy of EVE in premenopausal patients with HR+/HER2- ABC with endocrine resistance.

Citation Format: Yujing Tan, Fei Ma, Jiayu Wang, Pin Zhang, Binghe Xu, Liyan Xue, Ying Fan. Heterogeneity of tumor immune microenvironment to predict everolimus efficacy in premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative adavanced breast cancer [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 PO3-14-01.