Abstract 1813: Bevacizumab potentiates the proteomic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients: Rppa exploration of consecutive tumor samples in the NeoAva randomized phase II trial
Authors: Haugen Mads H. , Lingjaerde Ole Christian , Krohn Marit , Zhao Wei , Lindholm Evita M. , Silwal-Pandit Laxmi , Borgen Elin , Garred Øystein , Fangberget Anne , Holmen Marit M. , Schlichting Ellen , Skjerven Helle K. , Lundgren Steinar , Wist Erik , Naume Bjørn , Maelandsmo Gunhild M. , Lu Yiling , Boerresen-Dale Anne-Lise , Mills Gordon B. , Engebraaten Olav 
Published: July 2017

Antiangiogenic therapy using bevacizumab has proven effective for a number of cancers; however, in breast cancer there is an unmet need to identify patients that benefit from such treatment. Sampling of tumor biopsies before and during treatment, as well as at the time of surgery enables the assessment of response at multiple molecular levels. At the proteomic level reverse phase protein analysis (RPPA) support expression of numerous cancer associated proteins simultaneously, which can further be used to unravel molecular mechanisms associated with clinical response to bevacizumab treatment.

In this phase II clinical trial, patients with HER2 negative primary tumors of ≥25 mm were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (4 x FEC100 + 12 weeks of taxane-based therapy) and randomized (1:1) to receive bevacizumab or not. Mammography, ultrasound and MR imaging were used for response evaluation, in addition to final pathology assessment. Tumor responses were evaluable in 132 patients; of which 66 received bevacizumab. Ratio of the tumor size at final pathology assessment, and at inclusion was calculated to obtain a continuous scale of response reflecting the percentage of tumor shrinkage in response to therapy. Tumor biopsies were removed before start of treatment, at week 12 at the start of taxane-based tharapy and at the time of surgery. Lysates from each sample was analyzed on reverse phase protein arrays (RPPA) for expression levels of 210 proteins of which 54 were phospho-specific.

The addition of bevacizumab to the chemotherapy do not alter proteomic response from week 0 to 25 to such extent that this patient group cluster naturally together. While the proteomic response from week 0 to 12 in both treatment arms had an overall similar profile regarding up- and down-regulated proteins, the combination treatment (FEC100 + bevacizumab) induced substantially more effect on the regulation of each protein. This suggests that bevacizumab treatment have the capability to potentiate the effects of the anthracyclin based chemotherapy from week 0 to 12. Conversely, from week 12-25 (taxane-based therapy + bevacizumab) this effect was lost or even reversed, possibly due to a de-vascularized and less accessible tumor. An exception to this observation was a few phospho-proteins that do seem to have sustained stronger regulation over the whole treatment period. We are in the process of analyzing in more detail the impact of phosphorylation and thus protein activation states on treatment response.

Deciphering molecular response and activity regulation at the proteomic level is a promising approach and may reveal novel knowledge with potential important clinical relevance.

Citation Format: Mads H. Haugen, Ole Christian Lingjaerde, Marit Krohn, Wei Zhao, Evita M. Lindholm, Laxmi Silwal-Pandit, Elin Borgen, Øystein Garred, Anne Fangberget, Marit M. Holmen, Ellen Schlichting, Helle K. Skjerven, Steinar Lundgren, Erik Wist, Bjørn Naume, Gunhild M. Maelandsmo, Yiling Lu, Anne-Lise Boerresen-Dale, Gordon B. Mills, Olav Engebraaten. Bevacizumab potentiates the proteomic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients: Rppa exploration of consecutive tumor samples in the NeoAva randomized phase II trial [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1813. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-1813