BIRC5 expression by race, age and clinical factors in breast cancer patients.

PURPOSE: Survivin/BIRC5 is a proliferation marker that is associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer and an attractive therapeutic target. However, BIRC5 has not been well studied among racially diverse populations where aggressive breast cancers are prevalent. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We studied BIRC5 expression in association with clinical and demographic variables and as a predictor of recurrence in 2174 participants in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study (CBCS), a population-based study that oversampled Black (n = 1113) and younger (< 50 years; n = 1137) participants with breast cancer. For comparison, similar analyses were conducted in The Cancer Genome Atlas [TCGA N = 1094, Black (n = 183), younger (n = 295)]. BIRC5 was evaluated as a continuous and categorical variable (highest quartile vs. lower three quartiles). RESULTS: Univariate, continuous BIRC5 expression was higher in breast tumors from Black women relative to non-Black women in both estrogen receptor (ER)-positive and ER-negative tumors and in analyses stratified by stage (i.e., within Stage I, Stage II, and Stage III/IV tumors). Within CBCS and TCGA, BIRC5-high was associated with young age (< 50 years) and Black race, as well as hormone receptor-negative tumors, non-Luminal A PAM50 subtypes, advanced stage, and larger tumors (> 2 cm). Relative to BIRC5-low, BIRC5-high tumors were associated with poor 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) among ER-positive tumors, both in unadjusted models [HR (95% CI): 2.7 (1.6, 4.6)] and after adjustment for age and stage [Adjusted HR (95% CI): 1.87 (1.07, 3.25)]. However, this relationship was not observed among ER-negative tumors [Crude HR (95% CI): 0.7 (0.39, 1.2); Adjusted HR (95% CI): 0.67 (0.37, 1.2)]. CONCLUSION: Black and younger women with breast cancer have a higher burden of BIRC5-high tumors than older and non-Black women. Emerging anti-survivin treatment strategies may be an important future direction for equitable breast cancer outcomes.

Reproducibility and intratumoral heterogeneity of the PAM50 breast cancer assay.

BACKGROUND: The PAM50 assay is used routinely in clinical practice to determine breast cancer prognosis and management; however, research assessing how technical variation and intratumoral heterogeneity contribute to misclassification and reproducibility of these tests is limited. METHODS: We evaluated the impact of intratumoral heterogeneity on the reproducibility of results for the PAM50 assay by testing RNA extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded breast cancer blocks sampled at distinct spatial locations. Samples were classified according to intrinsic subtype (Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2-enriched, Basal-like, or Normal-like) and risk of recurrence with proliferation score (ROR-P, high, medium, or low). Intratumoral heterogeneity and technical reproducibility (replicate assays on the same RNA) were assessed as percent categorical agreement between paired intratumoral and replicate samples. Euclidean distances between samples, calculated across the PAM50 genes and the ROR-P score, were compared for concordant vs. discordant samples. RESULTS: Technical replicates (N = 144) achieved 93% agreement for ROR-P group and 90% agreement on PAM50 subtype. For spatially distinct biological replicates (N = 40 intratumoral replicates), agreement was lower (81% for ROR-P and 76% for PAM50 subtype). The Euclidean distances between discordant technical replicates were bimodal, with discordant samples showing higher Euclidian distance and biologic heterogeneity. CONCLUSION: The PAM50 assay achieved very high technical reproducibility for breast cancer subtyping and ROR-P, but intratumoral heterogeneity is revealed by the assay in a small proportion of cases.

Racial differences in breast cancer outcomes by hepatocyte growth factor pathway expression.

PURPOSE: Black women have a 40% increased risk of breast cancer-related mortality. These outcome disparities may reflect differences in tumor pathways and a lack of targetable therapies for specific subtypes that are more common in Black women. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a targetable pathway that promotes breast cancer tumorigenesis, is associated with basal-like breast cancer, and is differentially expressed by race. This study assessed whether a 38-gene HGF expression signature is associated with recurrence and survival in Black and non-Black women. METHODS: Study participants included 1957 invasive breast cancer cases from the Carolina Breast Cancer Study. The HGF signature was evaluated in association with recurrence (n = 1251, 171 recurrences), overall, and breast cancer-specific mortality (n = 706, 190/328 breast cancer/overall deaths) using Cox proportional hazard models. RESULTS: Women with HGF-positive tumors had higher recurrence rates [HR 1.88, 95% CI (1.19, 2.98)], breast cancer-specific mortality [HR 1.90, 95% CI (1.26, 2.85)], and overall mortality [HR 1.69; 95% CI (1.17, 2.43)]. Among Black women, HGF positivity was significantly associated with higher 5-year rate of recurrence [HR 1.73; 95% CI (1.01, 2.99)], but this association was not significant in non-Black women [HR 1.68; 95% CI (0.72, 3.90)]. Among Black women, HGF-positive tumors had elevated breast cancer-specific mortality [HR 1.80, 95% CI (1.05, 3.09)], which was not significant in non-Black women [HR 1.52; 95% CI (0.78, 2.99)]. CONCLUSION: This multi-gene HGF signature is a poor-prognosis feature for breast cancer and may identify patients who could benefit from HGF-targeted treatments, an unmet need for Black and triple-negative patients.

Hepatocyte growth factor pathway expression in breast cancer by race and subtype.

BACKGROUND: African American women have the highest risk of breast cancer mortality compared to other racial groups. Differences in tumor characteristics have been implicated as a possible cause; however, the tumor microenvironment may also contribute to this disparity in mortality. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a stroma-derived marker of the tumor microenvironment that may affect tumor progression differentially by race. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether an HGF gene expression signature is differentially expressed by race and tumor characteristics. METHODS: Invasive breast tumors from 1957 patients were assessed for a 38-gene RNA-based HGF gene expression signature. Participants were black (n = 1033) and non-black (n = 924) women from the population-based Carolina Breast Cancer Study (1993-2013). Generalized linear models were used to estimate the relative frequency differences (RFD) in HGF status by race, clinical, and demographic factors. RESULTS: Thirty-two percent of tumors were positive for the HGF signature. Black women were more likely [42% vs. 21%; RFD = + 19.93% (95% CI 16.00, 23.87)] to have HGF-positive tumors compared to non-black women. Triple-negative patients had a higher frequency of HGF positivity [82% vs. 13% in non-triple-negative; RFD = + 65.85% (95% CI 61.71, 69.98)], and HGF positivity was a defining feature of basal-like subtype [92% vs. 8% in non-basal; RFD = + 81.84% (95% CI 78.84, 84.83)]. HGF positivity was associated with younger age, stage, higher grade, and high genomic risk of recurrence (ROR-PT) score. CONCLUSION: HGF expression is a defining feature of basal-like tumors, and its association with black race and young women suggests it may be a candidate pathway for understanding breast cancer disparities.

Protein-based immune profiles of basal-like vs. luminal breast cancers.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes play an important, but incompletely understood role in chemotherapy response and prognosis. In breast cancer, there appear to be distinct immune responses by subtype, but most studies have used limited numbers of protein markers or bulk sequencing of RNA to characterize immune response, in which spatial organization cannot be assessed. To identify immune phenotypes of Basal-like vs. Luminal breast cancer we used the GeoMx® (NanoString) platform to perform digital spatial profiling of immune-related proteins in tumor whole sections and tissue microarrays (TMA). Visualization of CD45, CD68, or pan-Cytokeratin by immunofluorescence was used to select regions of interest in formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue sections. Forty-four antibodies representing stromal markers and multiple immune cell types were applied to quantify the tumor microenvironment. In whole tumor slides, immune hot spots (CD45+) had increased expression of many immune markers, suggesting a diverse and robust immune response. In epithelium-enriched areas, immune signals were also detectable and varied by subtype, with regulatory T-cell (Treg) markers (CD4, CD25, and FOXP3) being higher in Basal-like vs. Luminal breast cancer. Extending these findings to TMAs with more patients (n = 75), we confirmed subtype-specific immune profiles, including enrichment of Treg markers in Basal-likes. This work demonstrated that immune responses can be detected in epithelium-rich tissue, and that TMAs are a viable approach for obtaining important immunoprofiling data. In addition, we found that immune marker expression is associated with breast cancer subtype, suggesting possible prognostic, or targetable differences.

Bimodal age distribution at diagnosis in breast cancer persists across molecular and genomic classifications.

PURPOSE: Female breast cancer demonstrates bimodal age frequency distribution patterns at diagnosis, interpretable as two main etiologic subtypes or groupings of tumors with shared risk factors. While RNA-based methods including PAM50 have identified well-established clinical subtypes, age distribution patterns at diagnosis as a proxy for etiologic subtype are not established for molecular and genomic tumor classifications. METHODS: We evaluated smoothed age frequency distributions at diagnosis for Carolina Breast Cancer Study cases within immunohistochemistry-based and RNA-based expression categories. Akaike information criterion (AIC) values compared the fit of single density versus two-component mixture models. Two-component mixture models estimated the proportion of early-onset and late-onset categories by immunohistochemistry-based ER (n = 2860), and by RNA-based ESR1 and PAM50 subtype (n = 1965). PAM50 findings were validated using pooled publicly available data (n = 8103). RESULTS: Breast cancers were best characterized by bimodal age distribution at diagnosis with incidence peaks near 45 and 65 years, regardless of molecular characteristics. However, proportional composition of early-onset and late-onset age distributions varied by molecular and genomic characteristics. Higher ER-protein and ESR1-RNA categories showed a greater proportion of late age-at-onset. Similarly, PAM50 subtypes showed a shifting age-at-onset distribution, with most pronounced early-onset and late-onset peaks found in Basal-like and Luminal A, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Bimodal age distribution at diagnosis was detected in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study, similar to national cancer registry data. Our data support two fundamental age-defined etiologic breast cancer subtypes that persist across molecular and genomic characteristics. Better criteria to distinguish etiologic subtypes could improve understanding of breast cancer etiology and contribute to prevention efforts.

Frequency of breast cancer subtypes among African American women in the AMBER consortium.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer subtype can be classified using standard clinical markers (estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)), supplemented with additional markers. However, automated biomarker scoring and classification schemes have not been standardized. The aim of this study was to optimize tumor classification using automated methods in order to describe subtype frequency in the African American Breast Cancer Epidemiology and Risk (AMBER) consortium. METHODS: Using immunohistochemistry (IHC), we quantified the expression of ER, PR, HER2, the proliferation marker Ki67, and two basal-like biomarkers, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and cytokeratin (CK)5/6, in 1381 invasive breast tumors from African American women. RNA-based (prediction analysis of microarray 50 (PAM50)) subtype, available for 574 (42%) cases, was used to optimize classification. Subtype frequency was calculated, and associations between subtype and tumor characteristics were estimated using logistic regression. RESULTS: Relative to ER, PR and HER2 from medical records, central IHC staining and the addition of Ki67 or combined tumor grade improved accuracy for classifying PAM50-based luminal subtypes. Few triple negative cases (< 2%) lacked EGFR and CK5/6 expression, thereby providing little improvement in accuracy for identifying basal-like tumors. Relative to luminal A subtype, all other subtypes had higher combined grade and were larger, and ER-/HER2+ tumors were more often lymph node positive and late stage tumors. The frequency of basal-like tumors was 31%, exceeded only slightly by luminal A tumors (37%). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that automated IHC-based classification produces tumor subtype frequencies approximating those from PAM50-based classification and highlight high frequency of basal-like and low frequency of luminal A breast cancer in a large study of African American women.

Stroma modifies relationships between risk factor exposure and age-related epithelial involution in benign breast.

Delayed age-related lobular involution has been previously associated with elevated breast cancer risk. However, intraindividual variability in epithelial involution status within a woman is undefined. We developed a novel measure of age-related epithelial involution, density of epithelial nuclei in epithelial areas using digital image analysis in combination with stromal characteristics (percentage of section area comprising stroma). Approximately 1800 hematoxylin and eosin stained sections of benign breast tissue were evaluated from 416 participants having breast surgery for cancer or benign conditions. Two to sixteen slides per woman from different regions of the breast were studied. Epithelial involution status varied within a woman and as a function of stromal area. Percentage stromal area varied between samples from the same woman (median difference between highest and lowest stromal area within a woman was 7.5%, but ranged from 0.01 to 86.7%). Restricting to women with at least 10% stromal area (N = 317), epithelial nuclear density decreased with age (-637.1 cells/mm2 per decade of life after age 40, p < 0.0001), increased with mammographic density (457.8 cells/mm2 per increasing BI-RADs density category p = 0.002), and increased non-significantly with recent parity, later age at first pregnancy, and longer and more recent oral contraceptive use. These associations were attenuated in women with mostly fat samples (<10% stroma (N = 99)). Thirty-one percent of women evaluated had both adequate stroma (≥10%) and mostly fat (<10% stroma) regions of breast tissue, with the probability of having both types increasing with the number breast tissue samplings. Several breast cancer risk factors are associated with elevated age-related epithelial content, but associations depend upon stromal context. Stromal characteristics appear to modify relationships between risk factor exposures and breast epithelial involution.

Race-associated biological differences among luminal A and basal-like breast cancers in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study.

BACKGROUND: We examined racial differences in the expression of eight genes and their associations with risk of recurrence among 478 white and 495 black women who participated in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study Phase 3. METHODS: Breast tumor samples were analyzed for PAM50 subtype and for eight genes previously found to be differentially expressed by race and associated with breast cancer survival: ACOX2, MUC1, FAM177A1, GSTT2, PSPH, PSPHL, SQLE, and TYMS. The expression of these genes according to race was assessed using linear regression and each gene was evaluated in association with recurrence using Cox regression. RESULTS: Compared to white women, black women had lower expression of MUC1, a suspected good prognosis gene, and higher expression of GSTT2, PSPHL, SQLE, and TYMS, suspected poor prognosis genes, after adjustment for age and PAM50 subtype. High expression (greater than median versus less than or equal to median) of FAM177A1 and PSPH was associated with a 63% increase (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.63, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.09-2.46) and 76% increase (HR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.15-2.68), respectively, in risk of recurrence after adjustment for age, race, PAM50 subtype, and ROR-PT score. Log2-transformed SQLE expression was associated with a 20% increase (HR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.03-1.41) in recurrence risk after adjustment. A continuous multi-gene score comprised of eight genes was also associated with increased risk of recurrence among all women (HR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.04-1.19) and among white (HR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.03-1.27) and black (HR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.02-1.20) women. CONCLUSIONS: Racial differences in gene expression may contribute to the survival disparity observed between black and white women diagnosed with breast cancer.

Metabolic reprogramming of macrophages: glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1)-mediated glucose metabolism drives a proinflammatory phenotype.

Glucose is a critical component in the proinflammatory response of macrophages (MΦs). However, the contribution of glucose transporters (GLUTs) and the mechanisms regulating subsequent glucose metabolism in the inflammatory response are not well understood. Because MΦs contribute to obesity-induced inflammation, it is important to understand how substrate metabolism may alter inflammatory function. We report that GLUT1 (SLC2A1) is the primary rate-limiting glucose transporter on proinflammatory-polarized MΦs. Furthermore, in high fat diet-fed rodents, MΦs in crown-like structures and inflammatory loci in adipose and liver, respectively, stain positively for GLUT1. We hypothesized that metabolic reprogramming via increased glucose availability could modulate the MΦ inflammatory response. To increase glucose uptake, we stably overexpressed the GLUT1 transporter in RAW264.7 MΦs (GLUT1-OE MΦs). Cellular bioenergetics analysis, metabolomics, and radiotracer studies demonstrated that GLUT1 overexpression resulted in elevated glucose uptake and metabolism, increased pentose phosphate pathway intermediates, with a complimentary reduction in cellular oxygen consumption rates. Gene expression and proteome profiling analysis revealed that GLUT1-OE MΦs demonstrated a hyperinflammatory state characterized by elevated secretion of inflammatory mediators and that this effect could be blunted by pharmacologic inhibition of glycolysis. Finally, reactive oxygen species production and evidence of oxidative stress were significantly enhanced in GLUT1-OE MΦs; antioxidant treatment blunted the expression of inflammatory mediators such as PAI-1 (plasminogen activator inhibitor 1), suggesting that glucose-mediated oxidative stress was driving the proinflammatory response. Our results indicate that increased utilization of glucose induced a ROS-driven proinflammatory phenotype in MΦs, which may play an integral role in the promotion of obesity-associated insulin resistance.

Puberty-specific promotion of mammary tumorigenesis by a high animal fat diet.

INTRODUCTION: Increased animal fat consumption is associated with increased premenopausal breast cancer risk in normal weight, but not overweight, women. This agrees with our previous findings in obesity-resistant BALB/c mice, in which exposure to a high saturated animal fat diet (HFD) from peripuberty through adulthood promoted mammary tumorigenesis. Epidemiologic and animal studies support the importance of puberty as a life stage when diet and environmental exposures affect adult breast cancer risk. In this study, we identified the effects of peripubertal exposure to HFD and investigated its mechanism of enhancing tumorigenesis. METHODS: Three-week-old BALB/c mice fed a low-fat diet (LFD) or HFD were subjected to 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced carcinogenesis. At 9 weeks of age, half the mice on LFD were switched to HFD (LFD-HFD group) and half the mice on HFD were switched to LFD (HFD-LFD group). Tumor gene expression was evaluated in association with diet and tumor latency. RESULTS: The peripubertal HFD reduced the latency of DMBA-induced mammary tumors and was associated with tumor characteristics similar to those in mice fed a continuous HFD. Notably, short-latency tumors in both groups shared gene expression characteristics and were more likely to have adenosquamous histology. Both HFD-LFD and continuous HFD tumors showed similar gene expression patterns and early latency. Adult switch from HFD to LFD did not reverse peripubertal HFD tumor promotion. Increased proliferation, hyperplasia, and macrophages were present in mammary glands before tumor development, implicating these as possible effectors of tumor promotion. Despite a significant interaction between pubertal diet and carcinogens in tumor promotion, peripubertal HFD by itself produced persistent macrophage recruitment to mammary glands. CONCLUSIONS: In obesity-resistant mice, peripubertal HFD is sufficient to irreversibly promote carcinogen-induced tumorigenesis. Increased macrophage recruitment is likely a contributing factor. These results underscore the importance of early life exposures to increased adult cancer risk and are consistent with findings that an HFD in normal weight premenopausal women leads to increased breast cancer risk. Notably, short-latency tumors occurring after peripubertal HFD had characteristics similar to human basal-like breast cancers that predominantly develop in younger women.

Race-associated biological differences among Luminal A breast tumors.

African-American (AA) women have higher breast cancer-specific mortality rates. A higher prevalence of the worse outcome Basal-like breast cancer subtype contributes to this, but AA women also have higher mortality even within the more favorable outcome Luminal A breast cancers. These differences may reflect treatment or health care access issues, inherent biological differences, or both. To identify potential biological differences by race among Luminal A breast cancers, gene expression data from 108 CAU and 57 AA breast tumors were analyzed. Race-associated genes were evaluated for associations with survival. Finally, expression of race- and survival-associated genes was evaluated in normal tissue of AA and CAU women. Six genes (ACOX2, MUC1, CRYBB2, PSPH, SQLE, TYMS) were differentially expressed by race among Luminal A breast cancers and were associated with survival (HR <0.8, HR >1.25). For all six genes, tumors in AA had higher expression of poor prognosis genes (CRYBB2, PSPH, SQLE, TYMS) and lower expression of good prognosis genes (ACOX2, MUC1). A score based on all six genes predicted survival in a large independent dataset (HR = 1.9 top vs. bottom quartile, 95% CI: 1.4-2.5). For four genes, normal tissue of AA and CAU women showed similar expression (ACOX2, MUC1, SQLE, TYMS); however, the poor outcome-associated genes CRYBB2 and PSPH were more highly expressed in AA versus CAU women's normal tissue. This analysis identified gene expression differences that may contribute to mortality disparities and suggests that among Luminal A breast tumors there are biological differences between AA and CAU patients. Some of these differences (CRYBB2 and PSPH) may exist from the earliest stages of tumor development, or may even precede malignancy.

Body mass index associated with genome-wide methylation in breast tissue.

Gene expression studies indicate that body mass index (BMI) is associated with molecular pathways involved in inflammation, insulin-like growth factor activation, and other carcinogenic processes in breast tissue. The goal of this study was to determine whether BMI is associated with gene methylation in breast tissue and to identify pathways that are commonly methylated in association with high BMI. Epigenome-wide methylation profiles were determined using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip array in the non-diseased breast tissue of 81 women undergoing breast surgery between 2009 and 2013 at the University of North Carolina Hospitals. Multivariable, robust linear regression was performed to identify methylation sites associated with BMI at a false discovery rate q value <0.05. Gene expression microarray data was used to identify which of the BMI-associated methylation sites also showed correlation with gene expression. Gene set enrichment analysis was conducted to assess which pathways were enriched among the BMI-associated methylation sites. Of the 431,568 methylation sites analyzed, 2573 were associated with BMI (q value <0.05), 57 % of which showed an inverse correlation with BMI. Pathways enriched among the 2573 probe sites included those involved in inflammation, insulin receptor signaling, and leptin signaling. We were able to map 1251 of the BMI-associated methylation sites to gene expression data, and, of these, 226 (18 %) showed substantial correlations with gene expression. Our results suggest that BMI is associated with genome-wide methylation in non-diseased breast tissue and may influence epigenetic pathways involved in inflammatory and other carcinogenic processes.

Differences in 21-Gene and PAM50 Recurrence Scores in Younger and Black Women With Breast Cancer.

PURPOSE: Genomic tests, such as the Oncotype Dx 21-gene and Prosigna risk of recurrence (ROR-P) assay, are commonly used for breast cancer prognostication. Emerging data suggest variability between assays, but this has not been compared in diverse populations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: RNA sequencing was performed on 647 previously untreated stage I-III estrogen receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative tumors in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study, which oversampled Black and younger women (age <50 years at diagnosis), using research versions of two common RNA-based prognostic assays: ROR-PR and the 21-gene recurrence score (RSR). Relative frequency differences and 95% CIs were estimated for associations with race and age, and hazards of 5-year local or distant recurrence were modeled with Cox regression. Proliferation and estrogen module scores from each assay, representing broad activity of genes in those pathways, were examined to guide interpretation of differences between tests. RESULTS: Among both younger and older individuals, Black women had higher frequency of intermediate and high ROR-PR scores than non-Black women. Race was not significantly associated with RSR in either age group. High (hazard ratio [HR], 4.67 [95% CI, 1.73 to 12.70]) and intermediate (HR, 2.12 [95% CI, 0.98 to 4.62]) ROR-PR scores were associated with greater risk of recurrence, but RSR did not predict recurrence. RSR emphasized estrogen over proliferation modules, whereas ROR-PR emphasized proliferation. Higher proliferation scores were associated with younger age and Black race in both assays. Modifications to the RSR algorithm that increased emphasis on proliferation improved prognostication in this diverse population. CONCLUSION: ROR-PR and the 21-gene RSR differentially emphasize estrogen-related and proliferative biology. The emphasis of 21-gene RS on estrogen-related biology and lower endocrine therapy initiation among Black women may contribute to poorer prognostic ability in heterogeneously treated populations.

Associations of prostate tumor immune landscape with vigorous physical activity and prostate cancer progression.

BACKGROUND: Vigorous physical activity has been associated with lower risk of fatal prostate cancer. However, mechanisms contributing to this relationship are not understood. METHODS: We studied 117 men with prostate cancer in the University of North Carolina Cancer Survivorship Cohort (UNC CSC) who underwent radical prostatectomy, and 101 radiation-treated prostate cancer patients in FASTMAN. Structured questionnaires administered in UNC CSC assessed physical activity. In both studies, digital image analysis of H&E-stained tissues was applied to quantify Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) in segmented regions. Nanostring gene expression profiling in UNC CSC and microarray in FASTMAN were performed on tumor tissue and a 50-gene signature utilized to predict immune cell types. RESULTS: Vigorous recreational activity, reported by 34 (29.1%) UNC men, was inversely associated with TILs abundance. Tumors of men reporting any vigorous activity versus none showed lower gene expression-predicted abundance of Th, exhausted CD4 T cells and macrophages. T cell subsets, including Treg, Th, Tfh, exhausted CD4 T cells, and macrophages were associated with increased risk of biochemical recurrence, only among men with ERG-positive tumors. CONCLUSIONS: Vigorous activity was associated with lower prostate tumor inflammation and immune microenvironment differences. Macrophages and T cell subsets, including those with immunosuppressive roles and those with lower abundance in men reporting vigorous exercise, were associated with worse outcomes in ERG-positive prostate cancer. IMPACT: Our novel findings contribute to our understanding of the role of the tumor immune microenvironment in prostate cancer progression, and may provide insight into how vigorous exercise could affect prostate tumor biology.

Disparities in OncotypeDx Testing and Subsequent Chemotherapy Receipt by Geography and Socioeconomic Status.

BACKGROUND: OncotypeDx is a prognostic and predictive genomic assay used in early-stage hormone receptor-positive, HER2- (HR+/HER2-) breast cancer. It is used to inform adjuvant chemotherapy decisions, but not all eligible women receive testing. We aimed to assess variation in testing by demographics and geography, and to determine whether testing was associated with chemotherapy. METHODS: For 1,615 women in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study with HR+/HER2-, Stage I-II tumors, we estimated prevalence differences (PD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for receipt of OncotypeDx genomic testing in association with and sociodemographic characteristics. We assessed associations between testing and chemotherapy receipt overall and by race. Finally, we calculated the proportion of eligible women receiving OncotypeDx by county-level rurality, census tract-level socioeconomic status, and Area Health Education Center regions. RESULTS: 38% (N = 609) of potentially eligible women were tested, with lower testing prevalences in Black (31%; PD, -11%; 95% CI, -16%-6%) and low-income women (24%; PD, -20%; 95% CI, -29% to -11%) relative to non-Black and higher income women. Urban participants were less likely to be tested than rural participants, though this association varied by region. Among women with low genomic risk tumors, tested participants were 29% less likely to receive chemotherapy than untested participants (95% CI, -40% to -17%). Racial differences in chemotherapy were restricted to untested women. CONCLUSIONS: Both individual and area-level socioeconomics predict likelihood of OncotypeDx testing. IMPACT: Variable adoption of OncotypeDx by socioeconomics and across geographic settings may contribute to excess chemotherapy among patients with HR+/HER2- cancers. See related In the Spotlight, p. 635.

Pubertal high fat diet: effects on mammary cancer development.

INTRODUCTION: Epidemiological studies linking dietary fat intake and obesity to breast cancer risk have produced inconsistent results. This may be due to the difficulty of dissociating fat intake from obesity, and/or the lack of defined periods of exposure in these studies. The pubertal mammary gland is highly sensitive to cancer-causing agents. We assessed how high fat diet (HFD) affects inflammation, proliferative, and developmental events in the pubertal gland, since dysregulation of these can promote mammary tumorigenesis. To test the effect of HFD initiated during puberty on tumorigenesis, we utilized BALB/c mice, for which HFD neither induces obesity nor metabolic syndrome, allowing dissociation of HFD effects from other conditions associated with HFD. METHODS: Pubertal BALB/c mice were fed a low fat diet (12% kcal fat) or a HFD (60% kcal fat), and subjected to carcinogen 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced tumorigenesis. RESULTS: HFD elevated mammary gland expression of inflammatory and growth factor genes at 3 and 4 weeks of diet. Receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL), robustly induced at 4 weeks, has direct mitogenic activity in mammary epithelial cells and, as a potent inducer of NF-κB activity, may induce inflammatory genes. Three weeks of HFD induced a transient influx of eosinophils into the mammary gland, consistent with elevated inflammatory factors. At 10 weeks, prior to the appearance of palpable tumors, there were increased numbers of abnormal mammary epithelial lesions, enhanced cellular proliferation, increased growth factors, chemokines associated with immune-suppressive regulatory T cells, increased vascularization, and elevated M2 macrophages. HFD dramatically reduced tumor latency. Early developing tumors were more proliferative and were associated with increased levels of tumor-related growth factors, including increased plasma levels of HGF in tumor-bearing animals. Early HFD tumors also had increased vascularization, and more intra-tumor and stromal M2 macrophages. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together in this non-obesogenic context, HFD promotion of inflammatory processes, as well as local and systemically increased growth factor expression, are likely responsible for the enhanced tumorigenesis. It is noteworthy that although DMBA mutagenesis is virtually random in its targeting of genes in tumorigenesis, the short latency tumors arising in animals on HFD showed a unique gene expression profile, highlighting the potent overarching influence of HFD.

Quantitative analysis of breast cancer tissue composition and associations with tumor subtype.

The tumor microenvironment is an important determinant of breast cancer progression, but standard methods for describing the tumor microenvironment are lacking. Measures of microenvironment composition such as stromal area and immune infiltrate are labor-intensive and few large studies have systematically collected this data. However, digital histologic approaches are becoming more widely available, allowing high-throughput, quantitative estimation. We applied such methods to tissue microarrays of tumors from 1687 women (mean 4 cores per case) in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study Phase 3. Tumor composition was quantified as percentage of epithelium, stroma, adipose, and lymphocytic infiltrate (with the latter as presence/absence using a ≥1% cutoff). Composition proportions and presence/absence were evaluated in association with clinical and molecular features of breast cancer (intrinsic subtype and RNA-based risk of recurrence [ROR] scores) using multivariable linear and logistic regression. Lower stromal content was associated with aggressive tumor phenotypes, including triple-negative (31.1% vs. 41.6% in HR+/HER2-; RFD [95% CI]: -10.5%, [-13.1, -7.9]), Basal-like subtypes (29.0% vs. 44.0% in Luminal A; RFD [95% CI]: -14.9%, [-17.8, -12.0]), and high RNA-based PAM50 ROR scores (27.6% vs. 48.1% in ROR low; RFD [95% CI]: -20.5%, [24.3, 16.7]), after adjusting for age and race. HER2+ tumors also had lower stromal content, particularly among RNA-based HER2-enriched (35.2% vs. 44.0% in Luminal A; RFD [95% CI]: -8.8%, [-13.8, -3.8]). Similar associations were observed between immune infiltrate and tumor phenotypes. Quantitative digital image analysis of the breast cancer microenvironment showed significant associations with demographic characteristics and biological indicators of aggressive behavior.

RNA-Based Classification of Homologous Recombination Deficiency in Racially Diverse Patients with Breast Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Aberrant expression of DNA repair pathways such as homologous recombination (HR) can lead to DNA repair imbalance, genomic instability, and altered chemotherapy response. DNA repair imbalance may predict prognosis, but variation in DNA repair in diverse cohorts of breast cancer patients is understudied. METHODS: To identify RNA-based patterns of DNA repair expression, we performed unsupervised clustering on 51 DNA repair-related genes in the Cancer Genome Atlas Breast Cancer [TCGA BRCA (n = 1,094)] and Carolina Breast Cancer Study [CBCS (n = 1,461)]. Using published DNA-based HR deficiency (HRD) scores (high-HRD ≥ 42) from TCGA, we trained an RNA-based supervised classifier. Unsupervised and supervised HRD classifiers were evaluated in association with demographics, tumor characteristics, and clinical outcomes. RESULTS: : Unsupervised clustering on DNA repair genes identified four clusters of breast tumors, with one group having high expression of HR genes. Approximately 39.7% of CBCS and 29.3% of TCGA breast tumors had this unsupervised high-HRD (U-HRD) profile. A supervised HRD classifier (S-HRD) trained on TCGA had 84% sensitivity and 73% specificity to detect HRD-high samples. Both U-HRD and S-HRD tumors in CBCS had higher frequency of TP53 mutant-like status (45% and 41% enrichment) and basal-like subtype (63% and 58% enrichment). S-HRD high was more common among black patients. Among chemotherapy-treated participants, recurrence was associated with S-HRD high (HR: 2.38, 95% confidence interval = 1.50-3.78). CONCLUSIONS: HRD is associated with poor prognosis and enriched in the tumors of black women. IMPACT: RNA-level indicators of HRD are predictive of breast cancer outcomes in diverse populations.

The Landscape of Immune Microenvironments in Racially Diverse Breast Cancer Patients.

BACKGROUND: Immunotherapy is a rapidly evolving treatment option in breast cancer; However, the breast cancer immune microenvironment is understudied in Black and younger (<50 years) patients. METHODS: We used histologic and RNA-based immunoprofiling methods to characterize the breast cancer immune landscape in 1,952 tumors from the Carolina Breast Cancer Study (CBCS), a population-based study that oversampled Black (n = 1,030) and young women (n = 1,039). We evaluated immune response leveraging markers for 10 immune cell populations, compared profiles to those in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Project [n = 1,095 tumors, Black (n = 183), and young women (n = 295)], and evaluated in association with clinical and demographic variables, including recurrence. RESULTS: Consensus clustering identified three immune clusters in CBCS (adaptive-enriched, innate-enriched, or immune-quiet) that varied in frequency by race, age, tumor grade and subtype; however, only two clusters were identified in TCGA, which were predominantly comprised of adaptive-enriched and innate-enriched tumors. In CBCS, the strongest adaptive immune response was observed for basal-like, HER2-positive (HER2+), triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), and high-grade tumors. Younger patients had higher proportions of adaptive-enriched tumors, particularly among estrogen receptor (ER)-negative (ER-) cases. Black patients had higher frequencies of both adaptive-enriched and innate-enriched tumors. Immune clusters were associated with recurrence among ER- tumors, with adaptive-enriched showing the best and innate-enriched showing the poorest 5-year recurrence-free survival. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that immune microenvironments are intricately related to race, age, tumor subtype, and grade. IMPACT: Given higher mortality among Black and young women, more defined immune classification using cell-type-specific panels could help explain higher recurrence and ultimately lead to targetable interventions.