Abstract PS07-01: Exemestane and breast cancer prevention: how low can we go? Drug and biomarker tissue levels in a randomized presurgical trial on exemestane alternative dosing regimen
Authors: Serrano Davide , Johansson Harriet , Bertelsen Bjørn-Erik , Mellgren Gunnar , Thomas Parijatham , Crew Katherine , Kumar Nagi B , Macis Debora , Aristarco Valentina , Gonzaga Aliana Guerrieri , Gandini Sara , D’Amico Mauro , Webber Tania Buttiron , Briata Irene Maria , Spinaci Stefano , Galimberti Viviana , Viale Giuseppe , Vornik Lana A. , Villar-Sanchez Eduardo , Brown Powel , Heckman-Stoddard Brandy M , Szabo Eva , Bonanni Bernardo , De Censi Andrea 
Published: May 2024

Exemestane is an effective drug to reduce breast cancer risk reaching an overall 65% reduction in breast cancer in the placebo–controlled phase III MAP.3 trial. To improve its acceptability in primary prevention programs, we are seeking the minimal effective dose. In a 3-arm presurgical trial of 4-6 weeks before breast surgery in 180 postmenopausal women with ER-positive breast cancer, we investigated the activity of alternative exemestane schedules: 25 mg per day (QD), 25 mg three times/week (TIW) or 25 mg per week (QW) and showed that in adherent participants TIW was not inferior to QD in reducing circulating estradiol (Serrano et al JAMA Oncol. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2023.0089). Moreover, Ki67 reduction was seen in all arms with no significant difference among arms. Here, we analyzed the concentration of sex steroids, exemestane, and its main metabolite in the cancer and adjacent non-cancerous breast tissue.

Tissues samples were homogenized before liquid-liquid extraction. After reconstitution, samples were analyzed by coupling liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (Sciex QTRAP 6500, Nexera system, Shimadzu).

We obtained breast cancer tissue from 93 and non-cancerous breast tissue from 117 participants to measure exemestane, 17-OH-exemestane, and sex steroids. Exemestane and 17-OH-exemestane concentrations were detectable only in the QD arm, while in TIW and QW arms levels were below the Lower Limit of Detection (&lt; LLD). Median exemestane level was 3807 fmol/g and 17485 fmol/g and median 17-OH-exemestane level was 338 fmol/g and 1343 fmol/g in cancer and non-cancerous tissue, respectively. Interestingly, drug and its metabolite accumulated 4-5-fold in non-cancerous tissue compared to cancer tissue in the QD arm. Despite the between-arm drug concentration difference, estradiol was almost completely suppressed in all arms in the non-cancerous tissue, attaining level &lt; LLD in QD and TIW arms, and barely detectable in QW arm. The median in the QW arm was &lt; LLD (&lt; LLD, interquartile range &lt; LLD, 25.5 fmol/g) showing no differences in QD vs TIW and QD vs QW (p = 0.364 and p = 0.693 respectively). While a dose-response trend was observed in cancer tissue, estradiol level was &lt; LLD (&lt; LLD,52.2 fmol/g) on QD, 17.1 (&lt; LLD, 125.3) on TIW, and 128 (&lt; LLD, 224.8) on QW (p=0.046 QD vs TIW arms). Estrone showed a clear dose response trend among arms, whereas no differences were observed for testosterone and androstenedione for both cancer and non-cancerous tissue in all arms. The Ki-67 change was analyzed in the previous paper; here we report the data for those patients who had drug and hormones tissue concentration measured, where Ki-67 decreased in all arms: median Ki67 change from baseline was QD -8 (-10, -3), TIW -6 (-11, -2), QW -4 (-8, -1).

Conclusions:

Exemestane 25 mg three times a week maintains comparable activity to the standard dose on tissue estradiol suppression and Ki67 decrease. Considering the estradiol suppression in non-cancerous tissue of the lowest exemestane dose, QW might even be considered for breast cancer risk reduction in primary prevention. Further analyses are ongoing to investigate the correlation with other biomarkers including the role of polymorphic UGT2B17 genotype that could identify candidates to lower exemestane dosage.

Citation Format: Davide Serrano, Harriet Johansson, Bjørn-Erik Bertelsen, Gunnar Mellgren, Parijatham Thomas, Katherine Crew, Nagi B Kumar, Debora Macis, Valentina Aristarco, Aliana Guerrieri Gonzaga, Sara Gandini, Mauro D’Amico, Tania Buttiron Webber, Irene Maria Briata, Stefano Spinaci, Viviana Galimberti, Giuseppe Viale, Lana A. Vornik, Eduardo Villar-Sanchez, Powel Brown, Brandy M Heckman-Stoddard, Eva Szabo, Bernardo Bonanni, Andrea De Censi. Exemestane and breast cancer prevention: how low can we go? Drug and biomarker tissue levels in a randomized presurgical trial on exemestane alternative dosing regimen [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 PS07-01.