Clinical and Genotypic Insights Into Higher Prevalence of Palbociclib Associated Neutropenia in Asian Patients.

BACKGROUND: CDK4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) have shown great efficacy in prolonging progression-free survival and is the current standard of care for hormone positive (HR(+)) metastatic breast cancer (mBC). Despite well tolerability and ease of use, the most common side effect of CDK4/6i is myelosuppression, with neutropenia the most prevalent adverse effect. Studies show that the prevalence and severity of neutropenia are more marked in Asian patients, although details remain obscure. METHODS: In this study, we retrospectively analyzed 105 Taiwanese patients who received palbociclib for HR(+) HER2(-) mBC at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital. To investigate a possible genetic association for high prevalence of neutropenia, we queried the Taiwan Biobank with publicly available germline databases (ALFA, gnomAD, ExAC, 1000 Genomes project, HapMap), for the allele frequencies of 4 neutropenia-related SNPs (ABCB1_rs1045642, ABCB1_rs1128503, ERCC1_rs3212986, ERCC1_rs11615) and compared between different ethnicities. In addition, one of the patients was a long-term patient with peritoneal dialysis. We quantified the levels of palbociclib in her serum and peritoneal fluid by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). RESULTS: Interestingly, in our cohort, early neutropenia nadir (occurred within 56 days of start) was associated with worse treatment outcome, while occurrence of grade 3/4 neutropenia was associated with better outcome. We observed an extremely high incidence of neutropenia (96.2% any grade, 70.4% grade 3/4). In the analyzed germline databases, we discovered a higher SNP frequency of the T allele in ABCB1_rs1128503, a lower frequency of T allele in ABCB1_rs1045642, and a higher SNP frequency of G allele in ERCC1_rs11615. We observed that palbociclib levels in peritoneal dialysate ranged from around 20-50 ppb, and serum levels reached 100-110 ppb during drug administration and decreased to <10 ppb during discontinuation. CONCLUSION: Our retrospective analysis of real world palbociclib use reveals an association with grade 3/4 neutropenia with better outcome and early neutropenia nadir with worse outcome. Our findings of Asian specific SNPs support a predisposition toward profound and prevalent neutropenia in Asian patients under CDK4/6i. We also report the first pharmacokinetics analysis on a patient with peritoneal dialysis receiving CDK4/6i. In summary, our study provides novel clinical and genotypic insights into CDK4/6i associated neutropenia.

Regorafenib induces damage-associated molecular patterns, cancer cell death and immune modulatory effects in a murine triple negative breast cancer model.

Damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), including calreticulin (CRT) exposure, high-mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) elevation, and ATP release, characterize immunogenic cell death (ICD) and may play a role in cancer immunotherapy. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an immunogenic subtype of breast cancer with higher lymphocyte infiltration. Here, we found that regorafenib, a multi-target angiokinase inhibitor previously known to suppress STAT3 signaling, induced DAMPs and cell death in TNBC cells. Regorafenib induced the expression of HMGB1 and CRT, and the release of ATP. Regorafenib-induced HMGB1 and CRT were attenuated following STAT3 overexpression. In a 4T1 syngeneic murine model, regorafenib treatment increased HMGB1 and CRT expression in xenografts, and effectively suppressed 4T1 tumor growth. Immunohistochemical staining revealed increased CD4+ and CD8+ tumor-infiltrating T cells in 4T1 xenografts following regorafenib treatment. Regorafenib treatment or programmed death-1 (PD-1) blockade using anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody reduced lung metastasis of 4T1 cells in immunocompetent mice. While regorafenib increases the proportion of MHC II high expression on dendritic cells in mice with smaller tumors, the combination of regorafenib and PD-1 blockade did not show a synergistic effect on anti-tumor activity. These results suggest that regorafenib induces ICD and suppresses tumor progression in TNBC. It should be carefully evaluated when developing a combination therapy with an anti-PD-1 antibody and a STAT3 inhibitor.

A survey-based study: assessing inpatient attending perspectives on teaching learners, feeling valued, and symptoms of burnout.

BACKGROUND: Physician burnout is rising, especially among academic physicians facing pressures to increase their clinical workload, lead administrative tasks and committees, and be active in research. There is a concern this could have downstream effects on learners' experiences and academic physician's ability to teach learners on the team. METHODS: A 29-question RedCap survey was electronically distributed to 54 attending physicians within an academic learning health system who oversaw the General Medicine inpatient teaching services during the 2022-2023 academic year. The aims were to assess this cohort of attending physicians' experiences, attitudes, and perceptions on their ability to effectively teach learners on the team, feeling valued, contributors to work-life balance and symptoms of burnout, Fisher's Exact Tests were used for data analysis. RESULTS: Response rate was 56%. Attendings splitting time 50% inpatient / 50% outpatient felt that team size and type of admissions model affected their ability to effectively teach learners (p = 0.022 and p = 0.049). Attendings with protected administrative time felt that non-patient care obligations affected their ability to effectively teach the learners (p = 0.019). Male attendings and attendings with ≤ 5 years of General Medicine inpatient teaching experience felt less valued by residency leadership (p = 0.019 and p = 0.026). 80% of attendings experienced emotional exhaustion, and those with > 10 weeks on a General Medicine inpatient teaching service were more likely to experience emotional exhaustion (p = 0.041). Attendings with > 10 weeks on a General Medicine inpatient teaching service and those who were a primary caregiver were more likely to experience depersonalization (p = 0.012 and p = 0.031). 57% of attendings had reduced personal achievement. CONCLUSIONS: Institutions should seek an individual and organizational approach to professional fulfillment. Special attention to these certain groups is warranted to understand how they can be better supported. Further research, such as with focus groups, is needed to address these challenges.

Evaluating clinical efficacy of hospital-based surveillance with mammography and ultrasonography for breast cancer.

Periodic mammography and/or sonography examinations are conducted across numerous hospitals nationalwidely, especially for antedees with a positive mammography screening. Despite the regular practice, clinical efficacy of hospital-based breast cancer surveillance remains unclear. Specifically, the impact of surveillance interval upon survival and prognostic surrogates stratified by menopausal status, as well as malignant transition rate should be deciphered. We retrieved cancer registry to ascertain 841 breast cancers with surveillance history through administration data. Healthy controls underwent breast surveillance and were concurrently free of cancer. More benign diseases rather than cancers were identified from premenopausal women (age ≤50 years) with sonography alone within one year, as well as older women (age >50) with both mammography and sonography one to two years before a cancer or benign diagnosis. Among breast cancers, mammography alone during the antecedent one to two years had a protective effect for diagnosing carcinoma in situ rather than invasive cancer (age-adjusted odds ratio: 0.048, P = 0.016). Three-state time homogeneous Markov model showed that hospital-based breast surveillance within 2 years of disease onset reduced the malignant transition rate by 65.16% (59.79-76.74%). The clinical efficacy of breast cancer surveillance was evidenced.

Impact of shared decision-making in Taiwanese patients with atrial fibrillation eligible for novel oral anticoagulant therapy.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Shared decision-making (SDM) promotes patient awareness about medical conditions and treatments, facilitating patient involvement in care decisions. This two-stage multicenter study evaluated impacts of SDM in Taiwanese adults with atrial fibrillation (AF) eligible for novel oral anticoagulant (NOAC) therapy. METHODS: Participants were NOAC-naïve (part I) or dabigatran-experienced (part II). During Stage I, part I participants (n = 124) completed a semi-structured survey (understanding evaluation sections only) before and after viewing SDM materials on stroke prevention for AF. Surveys collected data on anxiety about AF, confidence in healthcare professionals, usefulness of the SDM materials, and perception of different NOACs. During Stage II, part I participants after being prescribed NOACs, and part II participants completed another survey to compare impacts of SDM. RESULTS: During Stage I, dabigatran was the preferred NOAC after viewing the SDM materials among 90% of part I participants. During Stage II, both part I (n = 87) and part II participants (n = 104) completed another survey. Fewer part I participants were anxious about AF (p < 0.01), and more had confidence in healthcare professionals (p < 0.01) after viewing SDM materials than before. Most part I participants (≥90%) rated the SDM materials as "very helpful". In Stage II, participants viewing SDM before initiating dabigatran had lower anxiety (part I, 43%; part II, 53%; p < 0.01) and a higher trust (part I, 92%; part II, 84%; p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, SDM reduced anxiety and improved trust in healthcare professionals among NOAC-naïve participants with AF.

Genomic Alterations of Tumors in HER2-Low Breast Cancers.

The aim of this study was to elucidate molecular profiling in HER2-low tumors based on a promising dataset. A total of 615 consecutive HER2-negative breast cancer samples were assayed. The genomic mutations in the two groups with different HER2 expression levels (HER2-0 vs. HER2-low) were compared. The mutation types obtained via next-generation targeted sequencing were correlated with the clinicopathological features of the patients with HER2-0 and HER2-low breast cancer. The results showed that there was a significantly higher percentage of receptor-positive (ER/PR) tumors and more low-level Ki-67 tumors, but a lower incidence of stage I/II tumors in the HER2-low group compared to the HER2-0 group. There was a significantly higher frequency of 17.62% (65/369) for PIK3CA_SNA in the HER2-low group than in the HER2-0 group, which had a frequency of only 9.35% (23/246) (p = 0.006). When the called gene alterations in the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) group were compared with those in the luminal-like breast cancer group, there was a significantly high frequency of 28.17% (140/497) for ERBB2_SNA in a luminal-like group than in the TNBC group(16.95% (20/118)).We conclude that the early detection of PIK3CA mutations is likely to be important and might help therapeutic decision making in patients with HER2-low tumors.

Prevalence of BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 genomic alterations among 924 Taiwanese breast cancer assays with tumor-only targeted sequencing: extended data analysis from the VGH-TAYLOR study.

BACKGROUND: The homologous recombination (HR) repair pathway for DNA damage, particularly the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, has become a target for cancer therapy, with poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors showing significant outcomes in treating germline BRCA1/2 (gBRCA1/2) mutated breast cancer. Recent studies suggest that some patients with somatic BRCA1/2 (sBRCA1/2) mutation or mutations in HR-related genes other than BRCA1/2 may benefit from PARP inhibitors as well, particularly those with PALB2 mutations. The current analysis aims to evaluate the prevalence of genetic alterations specific to BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 in a large cohort of Taiwanese breast cancer patients through tumor-targeted sequencing. METHODS: A total of 924 consecutive assays from 879 Taiwanese breast cancer patients underwent tumor-targeted sequencing (Thermo Fisher Oncomine Comprehensive Assay v3). We evaluated BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 mutational profiles, with variants annotated and curated by the ClinVAR, the Oncomine™ Knowledgebase Reporter, and the OncoKB™. We also conducted reflex germline testing using either whole exome sequencing (WES) or whole genome sequencing (WGS), which is ongoing. RESULTS: Among the 879 patients analyzed (924 assays), 130 had positive mutations in BRCA1 (3.1%), BRCA2 (8.6%), and PALB2 (5.2%), with a total of 14.8% having genetic alterations. Co-occurrence was noted between BRCA1/BRCA2, BRCA1/PALB2, and BRCA2/PALB2 mutations. In BRCA1-mutated samples, only p.K654fs was observed in three patients, while other variants were observed no more than twice. For BRCA2, p.N372H was the most common (26 patients), followed by p.S2186fs, p.V2466A, and p.X159_splice (5 times each). For PALB2, p.I887fs was the most common mutation (30 patients). This study identified 176 amino acid changes; 60.2% (106) were not documented in either ClinVAR or the Oncomine™ Knowledgebase Reporter. Using the OncoKB™ for annotation, 171 (97.2%) were found to have clinical implications. For the result of reflex germline testing, three variants (BRCA1 c.1969_1970del, BRCA1 c.3629_3630del, BRCA2 c.8755-1G > C) were annotated as Pathogenic/Likely pathogenic (P/LP) variants by ClinVar and as likely loss-of-function or likely oncogenic by OncoKB; while one variant (PALB2 c.448C > T) was not found in ClinVar but was annotated as likely loss-of-function or likely oncogenic by OncoKB. CONCLUSION: Our study depicted the mutational patterns of BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 in Taiwanese breast cancer patients through tumor-only sequencing. This highlights the growing importance of BRCA1/2 and PALB2 alterations in breast cancer susceptibility risk and the treatment of index patients. We also emphasized the need to meticulously annotate variants in cancer-driver genes as well as actionable mutations across multiple databases.

Clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of invasive ductal and lobular carcinoma: analyses of 54,832 taiwan cancer registry index cases.

PURPOSE: Invasive lobular cancer (ILC) is the second most common histology type of breast cancer followed by invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). This study aimed to investigate the characteristic, treatment strategies, and clinical outcomes of ILC based on a national population-based cancer registry. METHODS: This study recruited 2671 ILC and 52,215 IDC patients diagnosed between 2011 and 2017 using the Taiwan Cancer Registry (TCR). Correlations between ILC and IDC subgroups were assessed using 1:4 propensity score matching and compared using the χ2 test. Disease free survival(DFS) and overall survival(OS) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method with the log-rank test. The risk of disease relapse and mortality were assessed using Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: ILC patients had larger tumor sizes, more positive axillary lymph node involvement, lower tumor grade, and higher cancer stage than IDC patients. After matching, ILC patients had a significantly higher rate of receiving mastectomy (58.93% and 53.85%) and positive surgical margin regardless of surgery type. ILC exhibited a significantly higher rate of distant metastasis than IDC(3.67% and 2.93%), but no difference in local recurrence rate, DFS or OS between the two groups. Higher cancer stage, higher grade, and mastectomy were risk factors for disease relapse and cancer-specific mortality. The hormone receptor-positive and HER2 over-expression subtypes were found to be associated with a reduced risk of disease relapse, while only PR positivity was associated with a decreased risk of mortality. (all P-values < 0.05). CONCLUSION: ILC patients had a higher mastectomy rate, higher surgical margin rate and distant metastasis rate than IDC patients. There is no significant difference in DFS or OS between ILC and IDC patients. Mastectomy was associated with poor outcomes regardless of ILC or IDC.

The association of trastuzumab with atrial fibrillation and heart failure in breast cancer patients in routine clinical practice: a population-based propensity score matching and competing risk model analysis.

PURPOSE: Trastuzumab, a potent anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) monoclonal antibody, is conditionally reimbursed by the Taiwan National Health Insurance (NHI) for HER2-positive breast cancer (BC). Trastuzumab-induced cardiotoxicity studies have well characterized heart failure (HF) but fewer addressed arrhythmia, particularly the association of potential life threatening atrial fibrillation (Af) is poorly characterized. We aimed to study the trastuzumab-related risk of Af and HF using the claimed data of Taiwan NHI. METHODS: A nationwide retrospective cohort of patients with BC from the Taiwan NHI reimbursement database from January 2007 to December 2016 was analyzed. Propensity score matching and competing risk model analysis were used for adjusting confounding concurrent medication or comorbidities and competing events. The HF study was used to validate the method used. RESULTS: For Af, 12,472 trastuzumab users were matched with 12,472 non-trastuzumab users. For HF, 12,241 trastuzumab users and 12,241 non-users were enrolled. We found that trastuzumab users had significantly worse HF-free survival but not Af-free survival than non-trastuzumab users. In the competing risk analysis, the use of trastuzumab did not increase the risk of Af (hazard ratio [HR] 0.76, P = 0.0006) but was associated with HF (HR 1.19, P = 0.0052). The risk trends among stratifications by comorbidities and concurrent medication remained in similar directions for both Af and HF. CONCLUSION: Trastuzumab in real-world practice was associated with an increased risk of HF, but was not associated with an increased risk of Af in BC patients. Trastuzumab-induced arrhythmogenic effects may be masked by concurrent heart-protecting measures, more prominent roles of comorbidities or concurrent medications under real-world settings. Further studies are required.

Characteristics of breast cancers detected by screening mammography in Taiwan: a single institute's experience.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Breast cancer is the most common female malignancy in the world. Nearly ninety percent of screening-detected breast cancers were diagnosed with earlier stages of 0 to II in Taiwan. It's widely acknowledged that mammography screening of breast cancer can achieve the goal of early diagnosis and treatment in terms of preventive task while neglected interval cancers are associated with unfavorable tumor characteristics and worse outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics of screening-detected breast cancers in Taiwan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Both screening and diagnostic mammography examinations with accompanied BI-RADS (breast imaging-reporting and data system) classification were extracted from the health information system and linked to cancer registry in Taiwan. Enrolled population included those attending their first mammography between 2012 and 2016, excluding subjects with previous breast cancer, or with missing or incomplete data. We compared treatment outcomes between breast cancers with either initial screening or diagnostic mammography (control group), and investigated the compositions of breast cancers detected by screening mammography through direct chart reviews. RESULTS: A total of 84,246 screening and 61,230 diagnostic mammography sessions were performed from 2010 to 2020. More positive results (BI-RADS 0, 3, 4 and 5) were observed for those attending the first diagnostic than the first screening mammography (43.58% versus 16.12%, p < 0.001). Earlier stages (0 and I) distribution (92% versus 81%, p < 0.0001), better survivorship (overall survival: 96.91% versus 92.17%, p = 0.007) and a lower HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor II) positive status and lower tumor grade were noted in breast cancers with initial screening rather than diagnostic mammography. Among 26,103 mammography screening invitees between 2012 and 2016, 325 breast cancers were ascertained from cancer registry. Of these, 234 had one, 72 had two and 19 had three episodes of mammography before cancer diagnosis. Extensive chart reviews revealed that women with and without breast symptoms constituted 29.9 and 70.1% of the 325 screening-detected breast cancers, with the latter further divided into false negative results (interval cancer), diagnosed at the first mammography, diagnostic at the secondary or subsequent mammography and those with a delayed biopsy or confirmatory imaging constituted (5.2, 47, 10.5 and 7.4%). CONCLUSION: Screening-detected breast cancers were a mixture of women with and without symptoms, those with a false negative result, true negative results with cancer detected at subsequent mammography and non-adherers. Despite this, efficacy of mammography screening was ascertained in Taiwan from this study. To further enhance earlier detection and decrease false negativity, the impact of repeated mammography, and additional sonography for symptomatic women, compliance following a positive screening mammography should not be overemphasized.

Comparative Analysis of Costs of Caring for Inpatient COVID-19 Patients and Non-COVID-19 Patients at One Academic Center.

OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created a significant financial burden on the US healthcare system. The purpose of this study was to compare the costs of caring for patients admitted with COVID-related illness versus non-COVID patients. We hypothesized that the average daily costs of hospitalization would be higher among COVID patients compared with non-COVID patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study. Data were downloaded for patients who were admitted at Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Hospital from January 1, 2020 through February 28, 2021. The study population was dichotomized by COVID and non-COVID patients, and the average daily hospital cost was calculated. Multivariate adjusted linear regression models were used to calculate additional "average daily cost" comparisons. RESULTS: The COVID group was slightly older (mean age 61.0 vs 58.0 years), with longer mean length of stay (6.12 vs 4.95 days) and higher mean average daily direct cost ($1504.01 vs $1341.30) when compared with the non-COVID group, respectively (P < 0.001). After adjusting for various patient characteristics, the direct inpatient cost was $123.00 (95% confidence interval 74.4-171.5) higher per day in patients with COVID-19 (P < 0.0001). When indirect costs are considered, the combined indirect and direct cost may be four times greater. CONCLUSIONS: The average daily direct hospital cost is higher among patients with COVID compared with non-COVID-related illness. Many reasons contributed to this cost difference, including decreased nurse staffing ratios, lower physician censuses, and needed infrastructure changes. Studies with a larger sample size and more precise comparable study groups are warranted to validate our findings.

Violence Exposure Among Women in the Sex Industry and Their Children in El Alto, Bolivia: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study.

We conducted a comparative cross-sectional study to compare the prevalence of exposure to workplace violence and intimate partner violence (IPV) in 125 female sex workers (FSWs) and 125 age-matched control women working in other professions (non-FSWs) and their children in El Alto, Bolivia. Violence exposure was assessed using the Demographic Health Survey Domestic Violence Module. To determine associations between work type and violence exposure, we conducted multivariate logistic regression. One-third of working mothers experienced sexual IPV, regardless of their profession. FSWs experienced higher rates of severe physical IPV and workplace violence. Children of FSWs were approximately three times more likely to be exposed to violence in the workplace. In Bolivia, strategies to reduce exposure to violence within the home and in FSW workplaces are paramount to minimizing negative impacts on women and their children. These findings have implications for policies to improve education, living wages, and social interventions to prevent and mitigate violence against women and children.

ASO Author Reflections: Broaden the Targeted Population of Synthetic Lethality for Taiwanese Breast Cancer.

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors selectively cause the failure of DNA single-stranded break (SSB) repair but do not affect double-stranded break (DSB) repair. Furthermore, antitumor activities have been reported for breast cancer, with germline BRCA1/2 mutations. The prevalence of germline BRCA1/2 mutations never exceed one-tenth; beyond BRCA1/2, genes recurrently altered (more than 5%) in the homologous repair pathway are ARID1A, PALB2, and PTEN. Altered homologous recombination repair genes can total up to one-quarter based on different definitions, and the potential of PARP inhibitors will be elucidated when further studies unraveling the impact of individual homologous recombination genes are conducted.

Predicting Colon Cancer-Specific Survival for the Asian Population Using National Cancer Registry Data from Taiwan.

PURPOSE: Colon cancer is the third most incident and life-threatening cancer in Taiwan. A comprehensive survival prediction system would greatly benefit clinical practice in this area. This study was designed to develop an accurate prognostic model for colon cancer patients by using clinicopathological variables obtained from the Taiwan Cancer Registry database. METHODS: We analyzed 20,218 colon cancer patients from the Taiwan Cancer Registry database, who were diagnosed between 2007 and 2015, were followed up until December 31, 2017, and had undergone curative surgery. We proposed two prognostic models, with different combinations of predictors. The first model used only traditional clinical features. The second model included several colon cancer site-specific factors (circumferential resection margin, perineural invasion, obstruction, and perforation), in addition to the traditional features. Both prediction models were developed by using a Cox proportional hazards model. Furthermore, we investigated whether race is a significant predictor of survival in colon cancer patients by using Model 1 on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registry dataset. RESULTS: The proposed models displayed a robust prediction performance (all Harrell's c-index >0.8). For both the calibration and validation steps, the differences between the predicted and observed mortality were mostly less than 5%. CONCLUSIONS: The prediction model (Model 1) is an effective predictor of survival regardless of the ethnic background of patients and can potentially help to provide better prediction of colon cancer-specific survival outcomes, thus allowing physicians to improve treatment plans.

Prevalence of Tumor Genomic Alterations in Homologous Recombination Repair Genes Among Taiwanese Breast Cancers.

PURPOSE: Deleterious germline BRCA1/2 mutations are among the most highly pathogenic variants in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome. Recently, genes implicated in homologous recombination repair (HRR) pathways have been investigated extensively. Defective HRR genes may indicate potential clinical benefits from PARP (poly ADP ribose polymerase) inhibitors beyond BRCA1/2 mutations. METHODS: We evaluated the prevalence of BRCA1/2 mutations as well as alterations in HRR genes with targeted sequencing. A total of 648 consecutive breast cancer samples were assayed, and HRR genes were evaluated for prevalence in breast cancer tissues. RESULTS: Among 648 breast cancers, there were 17 truncating and 2 missense mutations in BRCA1 and 45 truncating and 1 missense mutation in BRCA2, impacting 3% and 5% of the study population (collectively altered in 6%) with cooccurrence of BRCA1/2 in 7 breast cancers. On the other hand, HRR genes were altered in 122 (19%) breast cancers, while TBB (Talazoparib Beyond BRCA) trial-interrogated genes (excluding BRCA1/2) were mutated in 107 (17%) patients. Beyond BRCA1/2, the most prevalent HRR mutant genes came from ARID1A (7%), PALB2 (7%), and PTEN (6%). Collectively, 164 (25%) of the 648 Taiwanese breast cancer samples harbored at least one mutation among HRR genes. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of BRCA1/2 mutations was far below one tenth, while the prevalence of HRR mutations was much higher and approached one-fourth among Taiwanese breast cancers. Further opportunities to take advantage of defective HRR genes for breast cancer treatment should be sought for the realization of precision medicine.

Colorectal cancer concurrent gene signature based on coherent patterns between genomic and transcriptional alterations.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to enhance colorectal cancer prognostication by integrating single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and gene expression (GE) microarrays for genomic and transcriptional alteration detection; genes with concurrent gains and losses were used to develop a prognostic signature. METHODS: The discovery dataset comprised 32 Taiwanese colorectal cancer patients, of which 31 were assayed for GE and copy number variations (CNVs) with Illumina Human HT-12 BeadChip v4.0 and Omni 25 BeadChip v1.1. Concurrent gains and losses were declared if coherent manners were observed between GE and SNP arrays. Concurrent genes were also identified in The Cancer Genome Atlas Project (TCGA) as the secondary discovery dataset (n = 345). RESULTS: The "universal" concurrent genes, which were the combination of z-transformed correlation coefficients, contained 4022 genes. Candidate genes were evaluated within each of the 10 public domain microarray datasets, and 1655 (2000 probe sets) were prognostic in at least one study. Consensus across all datasets was used to build a risk predictive model, while distinct relapse-free/overall survival patterns between defined risk groups were observed among four out of five training datasets. The predictive accuracy of recurrence, metastasis, or death was between 61 and 86% (cross-validation area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve: 0.548-0.833) from five independent validation studies. CONCLUSION: The colorectal cancer concurrent gene signature is prognostic in terms of recurrence, metastasis, or mortality among 1746 patients. Genes with coherent patterns between genomic and transcriptional contexts are more likely to provide prognostication for colorectal cancer.

The extended concurrent genes signature for disease-free survival in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Previously we had identified concurrent genes, which highlighted the interplay between copy number variation (CNV) and differential gene expression (GE) for Han Chinese breast cancers. The merit of the approach is to discovery biomarkers not identifiable by conventional GE only data, for which phenotype-correlation or gene variability is the criteria of gene selection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-one comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and 83 GE microarrays were performed, with 29 breast cancers assayed from both platforms. Potential targets were revealed by Genomic Identification of Significant Targets in Cancer (GISTIC) from CGH arrays. Concurrent genes and genes with significant GISTIC scores were used to derive the extended concurrent genes signature, which was consensus from leading edge analysis across all studies and a supervised partial least square (PLS) regression predictive model of disease-free survival was constructed. RESULTS: There were 1584 concurrent genes from 29 samples with both CGH and GE microarrays. Enriched concurrent genes sets for disease-free survival were identified independently from 83 GE arrays and another one with Han Chinese origin as well as three studies of Western origin. For five studies with disease-free survival follow up, prognostic discrepancy was observed between predicted high-risk and low-risk group patients. CONCLUSION: We concluded that through parallel analyses of CGH and GE microarrays, the proposed extended concurrent gene expression signature can identify biomarkers with prognostic values.

Deciphering Genetic Alterations of Taiwanese Patients with Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma through Targeted Sequencing.

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) is the 8th leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Taiwan, and its incidence is increasing. The development of PAC involves successive accumulation of multiple genetic alterations. Understanding the molecular pathogenesis and heterogeneity of PAC may facilitate personalized treatment for PAC and identify therapeutic agents. We performed tumor-only next-generation sequencing (NGS) with targeted panels to explore the molecular changes underlying PAC patients in Taiwan. The Ion Torrent Oncomine Comprehensive Panel (OCP) was used for PAC metastatic lesions, and more PAC samples were sequenced with the Ion AmpliSeq Cancer Hot Spot (CHP) v2 panel. Five formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) metastatic PAC specimens were successfully assayed with OCP, and KRAS was the most prevalent alteration, which might contraindicate the use of anti-EGFR therapy. One PAC patient harbored a FGFR2 p. C382R mutation, which might benefit from FGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. An additional 38 samples assayed with CHP v2 showed 100 hotspot variants, collapsing to 54 COSMID IDs. The most frequently mutated genes were TP53, KRAS, and PDGFRA (29, 23, 10 hotspot variants), impacting 11, 23, and 10 PAC patients. Highly pathogenic variants, including COSM22413 (PDGFRA, FATHMM predicted score: 0.88), COSM520, COSM521, and COSM518 (KRAS, FATHMM predicted score: 0.98), were reported. By using NGS with targeted panels, somatic mutations with therapeutic potential were identified. The combination of clinical and genetic information is useful for decision making and precise selection of targeted medicine.

Interleukin 17A promotes cell migration, enhances anoikis resistance, and creates a microenvironment suitable for triple negative breast cancer tumor metastasis.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of IL-17A in the cancer microenvironment and the recurrence of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). METHODS: Using human TNBC cell lines, the role of IL17-A was investigated by knocked down of IL-17A (ΔIL-17A) and by administration of IL-17A into the culture medium. Cell proliferation assays, migration assays, as well as Western blot analysis and real-time PCR, were used to evaluate IL-17A-related signaling. Three types of 4T1 cells were implanted into BALB/c mice, namely wild type (WT), ΔIL-17A, and WT + neutralizing IL-17 antibody (WT + Ab) cells. Tumor weight, necrosis area, and the number of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) were measured. Immunohistochemistry and Western blotting were used to analyze expression of CD34, CD8, and TGF-ß1 as well as anoikis resistance. The Kaplan-Meier's method was used to correlate IL-17A expression and patient outcome, including disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). RESULTS: Our results demonstrated that IL-17A was able to stimulate the migratory activity, but not the growth rate, of MDA-MB-231/468 cells. In vivo, for the ΔIL-17A group, there was an increase in necrosis area, a decrease in tumor CD34 expression and a reduction in the number of CTCs. Furthermore, in WT + Ab group, there was a decreased in tumor expression of CD34, fewer CD8 ( +) cells, and fewer CTCs, but an increase in expression of TGF-ß1 expression. Both of the above were compared to the WT group. Knockdown of IL-17A also decreased anoikis resistance in human TNBC and the murine 4T1 cell lines. Kaplan-Meier analysis disclosed a negative correlation between tumor expression of IL-17A and OS in TNBC patients. CONCLUSION: We conclude that IL-17A promotes migratory and angiogenic activity in tumors, enhances anoikis resistance, and modulates the immune landscape of the tumor microenvironment such changes favor cancer metastasis.

Residual risk stratification of Taiwanese breast cancers following curative therapies with the extended concurrent genes signature.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the study was to perform digital RNA counting to validate a gene expression signature for operable breast cancers initially treated with curative intention, and the risk of recurrence, distant metastasis, and mortality was predicted. METHODS: Candidate genes were initially discovered from the coherent genomic and transcriptional alternations from microarrays, and the extended concurrent genes were used to build a risk stratification model from archived formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues with the NanoString nCounter. RESULTS: The extended concurrent genes signature was prognostic in 144 Taiwanese breast cancers (5-year relapse-free survival: 89.8 and 69.4% for low- and high-risk group, log-rank test: P = 0.004). Cross-platform comparability was evidenced from significant and positive correlations for most genes as well as equal covariance matrix across 64 patients assayed for both microarray and digital RNA counting. DISCUSSION: Archived FFPE samples could be successfully assayed by the NanoString nCounter. The purposed signature was prognostic stratifying breast cancer patients into groups with distinct survival patterns, and clinical applicability of the residual risk model was proved.