Cancer Cell
40
:
P609-623.E6
2022
.

Redefining breast cancer subtypes to guide treatment prioritization and maximize response: Predictive biomarkers across 10 cancer therapies

Wolf DM, Yau C, Wulfkuhle J, Brown-Swigart L, Gallagher RI, Lee PRE, Zhu Z, Magbanua MJ, Sayaman R, O’Grady N, Basu A, Delson A, Coppé JP, Lu R, Braun J, I-SPY2 Investigators, Asare SM, Sit L, Matthews JB, Perlmutter J, Hylton N, Liu MC, Pohlmann P, Symmans WF, Rugo HS, Isaacs C, DeMichele AM, Yee D, Berry DA, Pusztai L, Petricoin EF, Hirst GL, Esserman LJ, van 't Veer LJ

Using pre-treatment gene expression, protein/phosphoprotein, and clinical data from the I-SPY2 neoadjuvant platform trial (NCT01042379), we create alternative breast cancer subtypes incorporating tumor biology beyond clinical hormone receptor (HR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) status to better predict drug responses. We assess the predictive performance of mechanism-of-action biomarkers from ∼990 patients treated with 10 regimens targeting diverse biology. We explore >11 subtyping schemas and identify treatment-subtype pairs maximizing the pathologic complete response (pCR) rate over the population. The best performing schemas incorporate Immune, DNA repair, and HER2/Luminal phenotypes. Subsequent treatment allocation increases the overall pCR rate to 63% from 51% using HR/HER2-based treatment selection. pCR gains from reclassification and improved patient selection are highest in HR+ subsets (>15%). As new treatments are introduced, the subtyping schema determines the minimum response needed to show efficacy. This data platform provides an unprecedented resource and supports the usage of response-based subtypes to guide future treatment prioritization.

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