Abstract P1-10-13: Examination of CCL26, CCL17 and CCL19 chemokines as biomarkers in HER2+ breast cancer (BC) in the neo-adjuvant setting
Authors: Collins Denis Martin , Browne Alacoque , Madden Stephen F , Gaynor Nicola , Kay Elaine W , Fay Joanna , Sheehan Katherine , Toomey Sinead , Eustace Alex J , Gallagher William M , Hennessy Bryan T , Crown John 
Published: March 2020

Background: Increased tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are associated with a better prognosis in HER2+ BC patients treated with neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. The signalling mechanisms associated with increased TIL levels are not fully understood. Chemotactic cytokines (chemokines) and their respective receptors have a major role to play in tumour immune cell infiltrate. Analysis of plasma chemokine levels and TIL levels in HER2+ BC patients treated in the neo-adjuvant setting has identified three chemokines of interest - CCL26, CCL17 and CCL19. Examination of tumor mRNA expression levels of their corresponding receptors CCR3, CCR4, and CCR7 in publicly available datasets reveals a significant association with overall survival in PAM50-defined HER2-enriched BC patients.

Methods: Pre-treatment (n=43) and post-treatment (n=29) (2 weeks pre-surgery) blood samples were collected from patients enrolled in ICORG 10-05 (neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (docetaxel/carboplatin) +/- trastuzumab, lapatinib or trastuzumab/lapatinib). Patients were classified as having a pathological complete response (CR) or a non-CR (nCR). Plasma chemokine levels were determined by Luminex xMAP assay and validated by ELISA. TIL levels were determined from H and E-, AE1/AE3- and CD45- stained FFPE tissue. Chemokine receptor mRNA expression was interrogated in publicly available datasets using BreastMark (http://glados.ucd.ie/BreastMark/index.html). The PAM50 HER2-enriched molecular signature and a median cut-off was used for all analyses.

Results: Circulating CCL17 levels were significantly lower in patients achieving CR, pre- (p=0.015) and post-treatment (p=0.012). Baseline CCL17 levels correlated with baseline TIL count (r=0.582, p=0.011) for CR but not nCR. There was no association between pre- or post-treatment CCL19 and CCL26 plasma levels and treatment response. However, baseline CCL26 levels were inversely correlated with baseline TILs for patients achieving CR (r= -0.49, p=0.028) but not nCR. Baseline CCL19 displayed a similar trend that did not reach significance (r=0.414, p=0.077). Analysis of publicly available datasets reveals tumor mRNA expression of CCR3 (Hazard ratio (HR)=1.9, p=0.001) and CCR7 (HR=0.53, p=0.002) are associated with overall survival in patients with a HER2-enriched molecular signature.

Conclusions: Our results suggest circulating chemokine levels may have value as biomarkers of response and TIL status in HER2+ BC. The strong correlation of chemokine receptors with overall survival in tumors with a HER2-enriched molecular signature suggests further examination of chemokine/chemokine receptor axes is warranted in a larger cohort of HER2+ BC patients.

Citation Format: Denis Martin Collins, Alacoque Browne, Stephen F Madden, Nicola Gaynor, Elaine W Kay, Joanna Fay, Katherine Sheehan, Sinead Toomey, Alex J Eustace, William M Gallagher, Bryan T Hennessy, John Crown. Examination of CCL26, CCL17 and CCL19 chemokines as biomarkers in HER2+ breast cancer (BC) in the neo-adjuvant setting [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 P1-10-13.