Abstract P3-07-23: CYP2D6 genotype and breast cancer recurrence in tamoxifen treated patients: An evaluation of the importance of loss-of-heterozygosity
Authors: Ahern TP , Hertz DL , Damkier P , Ejlertsen B , Hamilton-Dutoit SJ , Rae JM , Regan MM , Thompson AM , Lash TL , Cronin-Fenton DP 
Published: May 2016

Background: Tamoxifen therapy for estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer reduces recurrence risk by about half. Steady-state concentrations of endoxifen, a potent anti-estrogenic tamoxifen metabolite, are reduced in women whose CYP2D6 genotypes confer poor enzyme function. Many studies have measured associations between genetically impaired CYP2D6 function and tamoxifen resistance. It has been suggested that the subset of studies using DNA extracted from tumor-infiltrated tissue may have been susceptible to genotyping error induced by loss of heterozygosity (LOH); the putative non-differential genotype misclassification may have biased these studies' estimates toward the null. We reviewed the clinical epidemiology studies conducted to date to assess the importance of loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH) at the CYP2D6 locus and its implications for assessing tamoxifen effectiveness.

Methods: We searched for the terms "tamoxifen" and "CYP2D6" in PubMed, including all papers and abstracts through 31 May 2015 on the association of CYP2D6 gene variants and the risk of breast cancer recurrence or mortality. We used a quantitative bias analysis (QBA) to evaluate the importance of genotype misclassification in studies that extracted DNA from tumor-infiltrated tissue. We conducted a random effects meta-analysis to evaluate all studies simultaneously, and within groups according to whether DNA was derived from tumor-infiltrated tissue or non-neoplastic tissue.

Results: Thirty-one studies investigated CYP2D6 genotype and breast cancer recurrence, yielding relative effect estimates ranging from 0.08 to 14. DNA was extracted from blood or non-neoplastic tissue in 21 of these 31 studies (68%), and from tumor-infiltrated tissue in the remaining 10 (32%). Our analysis of the association between variant/variant genotype compared with wildtype/wildtype genotype included 21 of the 31 studies. Sixteen (76%) of these 21 studies extracted DNA from blood or non-neoplastic tissue and five (24%) extracted DNA from tumor-infiltrated tissue. Genotype misclassification parameters for the QBA were estimated from six concordance studies. There was little difference between the effect estimates (EE) and 95% confidence/simulation intervals (95% CI/SI) before and after QBA (EE=1.71, 95%CI=1.24, 2.36, and 1.80 95%SI=1.28, 2.54, respectively). Studies using non-neoplastic DNA had higher variance than those based on tumor-infiltrated tissue DNA, half reported implausibly high EE, and many were susceptible to design and analysis errors that would bias estimates of association away from the null.

Conclusions: We found little relative bias in the summary estimates of association, either overall or when limited to the tumor-infiltrated tissue DNA studies. Three guideline panels, based on robust evidence, recommend against CYP2D6 genotype-guided tamoxifen therapy. Alternatives for optimizing the effectiveness of tamoxifen therapy, such as assuring adherence and persistence, are more likely to achieve clinically important benefits.

Citation Format: Ahern TP, Hertz DL, Damkier P, Ejlertsen B, Hamilton-Dutoit SJ, Rae JM, Regan MM, Thompson AM, Lash TL, Cronin-Fenton DP. CYP2D6 genotype and breast cancer recurrence in tamoxifen treated patients: An evaluation of the importance of loss-of-heterozygosity. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-07-23.