Abstract P2-03-11: Differential Long-Term Benefit from Adjuvant Tamoxifen Therapy in Estrogen Receptor (ER)-Positive/Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2)-Negative Premenopausal and Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Patients
Authors: Johansson Annelie , Dar Huma , Nordenskjöld Anna , Perez-Tenorio Gizeh , Yau Christina , Benz Christopher C. , Esserman Laura J. , Veer Laura Van’t , Nordenskjöld Bo , Stål Olle , Fornander Tommy , Lindström Linda S. 
Published: March 2023

Background: Tamoxifen is a standard endocrine therapy for both pre- and postmenopausal ER-positive breast cancer patients. Patients with ER-positive disease have a long-term risk of distant recurrence, thus, long-term follow-up studies are essential to understand true treatment benefit. Clinically used tumor characteristics are prognostic 5-10 years after primary diagnosis, however, whether these characteristics are predictive of long-term tamoxifen benefit is largely unexplored. Therefore, we aimed to determine the long-term tamoxifen therapy benefit by the clinically used tumor characteristics in pre- vs postmenopausal patients in the Stockholm tamoxifen (STO)-trials with 20-years complete follow-up.

Methods: Secondary analysis of 1242 ER-positive/HER2-negative patients from the STO-trials, randomized to at least 2 years of 40 mg tamoxifen vs no endocrine therapy (control). Premenopausal lymph node-positive patients were allocated to chemotherapy as standard of care and postmenopausal high-risk patients were further randomized to chemotherapy vs radiotherapy. Tumor immunohistochemical analysis was recently conducted. Complete 20-year follow-up was obtained from Swedish high-quality registries. Long-term distant recurrence-free interval (DRFI) was assessed by multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression and time-varying analysis using flexible parametric modelling.

Results: Premenopausal patients showed significantly improved long-term DRFI from tamoxifen vs control if they were lymph node-negative (Hazard Ratio [HR]=0.46; 95% CI, 0.24-0.87), PR-positive (HR=0.61; 95% CI, 0.41-0.91), or of genomic low risk (HR=0.47; 95% CI, 0.26-0.85), see Table.

In postmenopausal patients, significantly improved long-term DRFI from tamoxifen vs control was seen for all good prognosis tumor characteristics, i.e. small tumor size (pT≤20mm: HR=0.55; 95% CI, 0.39-0.77), tumor grade 1-2 (HR=0.55; 95% CI, 0.41-0.73), lymph node-negative (HR=0.44; 95% CI, 0.30-0.64), PR-positive (HR=0.60; 95% CI, 0.44-0.80), Ki-67-low (&lt; 15%: HR=0.51; 95% CI, 0.38-0.68), and genomic low risk (HR=0.53; 95% CI, 0.37-0.74), see Table. Also, postmenopausal patients with large tumor size (pT&gt;20mm: HR=0.64; 95% CI, 0.44-0.94) and PR-negative tumors (HR=0.51; 95% CI, 0.32-0.81) showed significant long-term tamoxifen benefit.

Time-varying analysis in premenopausal patients indicated that tamoxifen therapy benefit diminished over time. Significant tamoxifen benefit until year 5, 10, and 15 after primary diagnosis was observed for PR-positive, lymph node-negative, and genomic low-risk patients, respectively. Postmenopausal patients had a significant long-term tamoxifen benefit if they had tumors of small or large tumor size, tumor grade 1-2, lymph node-negative status, PR-positive status, low Ki-67 levels, or genomic low risk.

Conclusions: This study suggests a differential long-term tamoxifen therapy benefit in pre- vs postmenopausal patients. Clinically defined low-risk postmenopausal patients have long-term tamoxifen benefit, whereas the benefit is absent or diminish over time for premenopausal patients. Improved long-term prognostic and endocrine therapy predictive markers in premenopausal breast cancer patients with poor prognosis and long life-expectancy is needed, which could involve molecular tools.

Long-term tamoxifen benefit in premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer patients by the clinically used tumor characteristics.

Table

Multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression analysis of 20-year distant recurrence-free interval (DRFI) for patients with ER-positive/HER2-negative tumors, comparing patients randomized to tamoxifen vs patients randomized to no endocrine therapy (control). Adjusted for age, randomization year, tumor size, tumor grade, lymph node status, PR status, Ki-67 status, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and type of surgery.

Citation Format: Annelie Johansson, Huma Dar, Anna Nordenskjöld, Gizeh Perez-Tenorio, Christina Yau, Christopher C. Benz, Laura J. Esserman, Laura Van’t Veer, Bo Nordenskjöld, Olle Stål, Tommy Fornander, Linda S. Lindström. Differential Long-Term Benefit from Adjuvant Tamoxifen Therapy in Estrogen Receptor (ER)-Positive/Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2)-Negative Premenopausal and Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-03-11.