Title
ERþ Breast cancers resistant to prolonged neoadjuvant letrozole exhibit an e2f4 transcriptional program sensitive to cdk4/6 inhibitors
Date Issued
01 June 2018
Access level
open access
Resource Type
research article
Author(s)
Guerrero-Zotano A.L.
Stricker T.P.
Formisano L.
Hutchinson K.E.
Stover D.G.
Lee K.M.
Giltnane J.M.
Estrada M.V.
Jansen V.M.
Servetto A.
Gavila J.
Alejandro J.P.F.
Lluch A.
Llombart-Cussac A.
Bayar M.A.
Michiels S.
Andre F.
Arnedos M.
Guillem V.
Ruiz-Simon A.
Arteaga C.L.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Publisher(s)
American Association for Cancer Research Inc.
Abstract
Purpose: This study aimed to identify biomarkers of resistance to endocrine therapy in estrogen receptor–positive (ERþ) breast cancers treated with prolonged neoadjuvant letrozole. Experimental Design: We performed targeted DNA and RNA sequencing in 68 ERþ breast cancers from patients treated with preoperative letrozole (median, 7 months). Results: Twenty-four tumors (35%) exhibited a PEPI score 4 and/or recurred after a median of 58 months and were considered endocrine resistant. Integration of the 47 most upregulated genes (log FC > 1, FDR < 0.03) in letrozole-resistant tumors with transcription-binding data showed significant overlap with 20 E2F4-regulated genes (P ¼ 2.56E15). In patients treated with the CDK4/6 inhibitor palbociclib before surgery, treatment significantly decreased expression of 24 of the 47 most upregulated genes in letrozole-resistant tumors, including 18 of the 20 E2F4 target genes. In long-term estrogen-deprived ERþ breast cancer cells, palbociclib also downregulated all 20 E2F4 target genes and P-RB levels, whereas the ER downregulator fulvestrant or paclitaxel only partially suppressed expression of this set of genes and had no effect on P-RB. Finally, an E2F4 activation signature was strongly associated with resistance to aromatase inhibitors in the ACOSOG Z1031B neoadjuvant trial and with an increased risk of relapse in adjuvant-treated ERþ tumors in METABRIC. Conclusions: In tumors resistant to prolonged neoadjuvant letrozole, we identified a gene expression signature of E2F4 target activation. CDK4/6 inhibition suppressed E2F4 target gene expression in estrogen-deprived ERþ breast cancer cells and in patients' ERþ tumors, suggesting a potential benefit of adjuvant CDK4/6 inhibitors in patients with ERþ breast cancer who fail to respond to preoperative estrogen deprivation.
Start page
2517
End page
2529
Volume
24
Issue
11
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Oncología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85048092034
PubMed ID
Source
Clinical Cancer Research
ISSN of the container
10780432
Sponsor(s)
This study was supported by NIH Breast SPORE grant P50 CA098131, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Support grant P30 CA68485, Susan G. Komen for the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation grant SAC100013, a grant from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, a grant from the Sociedad Española de Oncología Medica (SEOM), a grant from the Asociacion Española Contra el Cancer (AECC), and a grant from Grupo Español de Investigacion en Cancer de Mama (GEICAM). J.M. Giltnane is an employee of Genentech. J. Gavilá reports receiving speakers bureau honoraria from Novartis and Roche and is a consultant/ advisory board member for Novartis. F. Andre is a consultant/advisory board member for Lilly, Novartis, and Pfizer. M. Arnedos reports receiving commercial research grants from Lilly, speakers bureau honoraria from AstraZeneca and Novartis, and is a consultant/advisory board member for Seattle Genetics. No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed by the other authors.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus