Abstract B024: Comprehensive biomarker profiling of matched primary and metastatic estrogen receptor positive breast cancers

Patients with newly diagnosed, early stage estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer often show disease free survival in excess of five years following surgery and systemic adjuvant therapy. As such, an important question is whether diagnostic tumor tissue from the primary lesion offers an accurate molecular portrait of the cancer post recurrence and thus may be used for predictive diagnostic purposes for patients with relapsed, metastatic disease. To address this question, we performed detailed biomarker analyses on matched, asynchronous primary and metastatic tumors from 77 patients with ER+ breast cancer. The class I phosphatidylinositol 39 kinase (PI3K) is thought to be an important driver in ER+ breast cancer and has been linked to acquired resistance to hormonal therapy. We thus examined whether mutations in PIK3CA and loss of PTEN showed differences in primary and metastatic samples. We also sought to look more broadly at markers reflective of proliferation, molecular subtype, and key receptors and signaling pathways. To accomplish this, we developed an analysis platform using the Fluidigm BioMark™ microfluidics system to measure the relative expression of 90 breast cancer related genes in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue. Application of this panel of assays to matched tumor pairs showed a very high concordance between primary and metastatic tissue, with generally few changes in mutation status, proliferative markers, or gene expression between matched samples. Thus, archival primary tumor tissue may still provide an accurate portrait of biomarker status in patients with disease recurrence. Citation Format: Jill M. Spoerke, Erica B. Schleifman, Rupal Desai, Yuanyuan Xiao, Cheryl Wong, Ilma Abbas, Carol O9Brien, Rajesh Patel, Teiko Sumiyoshi, Ling Fu, Rachel Tam, Hartmut Koeppen, Timothy Wilson, Rajiv Raja, Garret M. Hampton, Mark R. Lackner. Comprehensive biomarker profiling of matched primary and metastatic estrogen receptor positive breast cancers. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Breast Cancer Research: Genetics, Biology, and Clinical Applications; Oct 3-6, 2013; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2013;11(10 Suppl):Abstract nr B024.