Glioblastoma TCGA Mesenchymal and IGS 23 Tumors are Identifiable by IHC and have an Immune-phenotype Indicating a Potential Benefit from Immunotherapy.

PURPOSE: Molecular subtype classifications in glioblastoma may detect therapy sensitivities. IHC would potentially allow the identification of molecular subtypes in routine clinical practice. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor samples of 124 uniformly treated, newly diagnosed patients with glioblastoma were submitted to RNA sequencing, IHC, and immune-phenotyping to identify differences in molecular subtypes associated with treatment sensitivities. RESULTS: We detected high molecular and IHC overlapping of the The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) mesenchymal subtype with instrinsic glioma subtypes (IGS) cluster 23 and of the TCGA classical subtype with IGS cluster 18. IHC patterns, gene fusion profiles, and immune-phenotypes varied across subtypes. IHC revealed that the TCGA classical subtype was identified by high expression of EGFR and low expression of PTEN, while the mesenchymal subtype was identified by low expression of SOX2 and high expression of two antibodies, SHC1 and TCIRG1, selected on the basis of RNA differential transcriptomic expression. The proneural subtype was identified by frequent positive IDH1 expression and high Olig2 and Ki67 expression. Immune-phenotyping showed that mesenchymal and IGS 23 tumors exhibited a higher positive effector cell score, a higher negative suppressor cell score, and lower levels of immune checkpoint molecules. The cell-type deconvolution analysis revealed that these tumors are highly enriched in M2 macrophages, resting memory CD4+ T cells, and activated dendritic cells, indicating that they may be ideal candidates for immunotherapy, especially with anti-M2 and/or dendritic cell vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: There is a subset of tumors, frequently classified as mesenchymal or IGS cluster 23, that may be identified with IHC and could well be optimal candidates for immunotherapy.

Inhibitor of Apoptosis (IAP) survivin is indispensable for survival of HER2 gene-amplified breast cancer cells with primary resistance to HER1/2-targeted therapies.

Primary resistance of HER2 gene-amplified breast carcinomas (BC) to HER-targeted therapies can be explained in terms of overactive HER2-independent downstream pro-survival pathways. We here confirm that constitutive overexpression of Inhibitor of Apoptosis (IAP) survivin is indispensable for survival of HER2-positive BC cells with intrinsic cross-resistance to multiple HER1/2 inhibitors. The IC50 values for the HER1/2 Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs) gefitinib, erlotinib and lapatinib were up to 40-fold higher in trastuzumab-unresponsive JIMT-1 cells than in trastuzumab-naïve SKBR3 cells. ELISA-based and immunoblotting assays demonstrated that trastuzumab-refractory JIMT-1 cells constitutively expressed ~ 4 times more survivin protein than trastuzumab-responsive SKBR3 cells. In response to trastuzumab, JIMT-1 cells accumulated ~10 times more survivin than SKBR3 cells. HER1/2 TKIs failed to down-regulate survivin expression in JIMT-1 cells whereas equimolar doses of HER1/HER2 TKIs drastically depleted survivin protein in SKBR3 cells. ELISA-based detection of histone-associated DNA fragments confirmed that trastuzumab-refractory JIMT-1 cells were intrinsically protected against the apoptotic effects of HER1/2 TKIs. Of note, when we knocked-down survivin expression using siRNA and then added trastuzumab, cell proliferation and colony formation were completely suppressed in JIMT-1 cells. Our current findings may be extremely helpful to design successful combinatorial strategies aimed to circumvent the occurrence of de novo resistance to HER2-directed drugs using survivin antagonists.