Abstract GS1-07: Treatment persistence of residual breast tumors through an embryonic diapause-like cancer cell state with suppressed myc activity

Systemic breast cancer treatments often fail to achieve complete and sustained responses due to drug-persistent residual tumor foci, the “seed” for eventual relapse. Recent clinical studies have revealed that the chemo-persistent tumor cells undergo extensive transcriptional reprogramming in response to neo-adjuvant treatment; however, the impact of this acquired molecular signature on the ability of residual cancer cells to survive during therapy is not clear. To further study the molecular hallmarks of chemo-persistent cancer cells, we analyzed the transcriptional signatures of post-treatment residual tumors in a large number of breast cancer patients from several neoadjuvant clinical studies. We observed that the treatment-persistent tumor cells had a distinct cellular state which molecularly resembles that of the embryonic diapause, a dormant stage of transiently suspended development in undifferentiated epiblasts triggered by stress and induced by suppression of Myc activity and overall biosynthesis. Remarkably, the propensity for residual tumors with an embryonic diapause-like (EDL) molecular signature was significantly associated with worse outcome in breast cancer patients. To dissect this distinct cancer cell state, we developed novel in vitro models using 3D breast cancer organoids which responded to cytotoxic treatment by generating longitudinally-persistent residual organoid fractions that phenotypically and molecularly simulated the in vivo emergence of post-treatment residual tumors in preclinical and clinical settings. The treatment-persistent tumor fractions in cancer organoids and in the respective in vivo xenografts did not exhibit significant genetic changes compared to baseline tumor cells, but had reduced apoptotic priming and an EDL transcriptional reprograming similar to that of residual tumors in patients. Similarly to embryonic diapause, residual persistent fractions in cancer organoids, xenografts and patient tumors had markedly suppressed Myc transcriptional output and biosynthetic levels. Ectopic induction of MYC expression enhanced acute chemotherapeutic cytotoxicity in breast cancer organoids. Conversely, suppression of MYC or pharmacological inhibition of Myc transcriptional co-activators, BET bromodomains, abrogated chemotherapeutic cytotoxicity and induced in breast cancer cells an EDL molecular signature characterized by below-baseline redox stress levels which were maintained during drug exposure. High-throughput interrogation of residual persistent breast cancer organoids indicated broad refractoriness to specific anticancer drug classes thought to operate through induction of cellular stress (e.g. agents targeting DNA or DNA-repair). However, maintaining the residual cells in dormancy after completion of cytotoxic chemotherapy via inhibition of Brd4/Myc axis or pharmacologically interfering with the diapause-like transcriptional reprogramming of treatment-persistent cancer cells represent potential therapeutic strategies to target chemo-persistent tumor cells. Overall, our study shows that breast tumors dynamically co-opt the stress survival mechanism of embryonic diapause to persist during treatment, and reveals an unexpected role of Myc as regulator of cancer cell entry into transient drug-refractory dormancy. The diapause-like persister organoid cancer models provide ex vivo tractability for studying the otherwise elusive, dormant, drug-refractory residual tumors, with potential implications in personalized medicine and drug discovery. Citation Format: Eugen Dhimolea, Ricardo De Matos Simoes, Dhvanir Kansara, Juliette Bouyssou, Jennifer Roth, Michal Sheffer, Rinath Jeselsohn, Nathanael Gray, Ulrich Steidl, Boris Bartholdy, Myles Brown, Aedin Culhane, Constantine Mitsiades. Treatment persistence of residual breast tumors through an embryonic diapause-like cancer cell state with suppressed myc activity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr GS1-07.