Tumor Mutational Burden and PTEN Alterations as Molecular Correlates of Response to PD-1/L1 Blockade in Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Clin Cancer Res. 2020 Jun 1;26(11):2565-2572. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-19-3507. Epub 2020 Feb 4.

Abstract

Purpose: Few patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC) benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). On the basis of immunotherapy response correlates in other cancers, we evaluated whether high tumor mutational burden (TMB) ≥10 nonsynonymous mutations/megabase and PTEN alterations, defined as nonsynonymous mutations or 1 or 2 copy deletions, were associated with clinical benefit to anti-PD-1/L1 therapy in mTNBC.

Experimental design: We identified patients with mTNBC, who consented to targeted DNA sequencing and were treated with ICIs on clinical trials between April 2014 and January 2019 at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, MA). Objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were correlated with tumor genomic features.

Results: Sixty-two women received anti-PD-1/L1 inhibitors alone (23%) or combined with targeted therapy (19%) or chemotherapy (58%). High TMB (18%) was associated with significantly longer PFS (12.5 vs. 3.7 months; P = 0.04), while PTEN alterations (29%) were associated with significantly lower ORR (6% vs. 48%; P = 0.01), shorter PFS (2.3 vs. 6.1 months; P = 0.01), and shorter OS (9.7 vs. 20.5 months; P = 0.02). Multivariate analyses confirmed that these associations were independent of performance status, prior lines of therapy, therapy regimen, and visceral metastases. The survival associations were additionally independent of PD-L1 in patients with known PD-L1 and were not found in mTNBC cohorts treated with chemotherapy (n = 90) and non-ICI regimens (n = 169).

Conclusions: Among patients with mTNBC treated with anti-PD-1/L1 therapies, high TMB and PTEN alterations were associated with longer and shorter survival, respectively. These observations warrant validation in larger datasets.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • B7-H1 Antigen / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics*
  • Cohort Studies
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors / therapeutic use*
  • Immunotherapy / methods*
  • Middle Aged
  • Mutation*
  • PTEN Phosphohydrolase / genetics*
  • Prognosis
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Survival Rate
  • Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms / genetics
  • Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms / pathology*

Substances

  • B7-H1 Antigen
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • CD274 protein, human
  • Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
  • PDCD1 protein, human
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor
  • PTEN Phosphohydrolase
  • PTEN protein, human