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Integrated molecular pathway analysis informs a synergistic combination therapy targeting PTEN/PI3K and EGFR pathways for basal-like breast cancer

She, Qing Bai ; Gruvberger, Sofia LU ; Maurer, Matthew ; Chen, Yilun LU ; Jumppanen, Mervi ; Su, Tao ; Dendy, Meaghan ; Lau, Ying Ka Ingar ; Memeo, Lorenzo and Horlings, Hugo M. , et al. (2016) In BMC Cancer 16(1).
Abstract

Background: The basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) subtype is characterized by positive staining for basal mammary epithelial cytokeratin markers, lack of hormone receptor and HER2 expression, and poor prognosis with currently no approved molecularly-targeted therapies. The oncogenic signaling pathways driving basal-like tumorigenesis are not fully elucidated. Methods: One hundred sixteen unselected breast tumors were subjected to integrated analysis of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway related molecular aberrations by immunohistochemistry, mutation analysis, and gene expression profiling. Incidence and relationships between molecular biomarkers were characterized. Findings for select biomarkers were validated in an independent... (More)

Background: The basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) subtype is characterized by positive staining for basal mammary epithelial cytokeratin markers, lack of hormone receptor and HER2 expression, and poor prognosis with currently no approved molecularly-targeted therapies. The oncogenic signaling pathways driving basal-like tumorigenesis are not fully elucidated. Methods: One hundred sixteen unselected breast tumors were subjected to integrated analysis of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway related molecular aberrations by immunohistochemistry, mutation analysis, and gene expression profiling. Incidence and relationships between molecular biomarkers were characterized. Findings for select biomarkers were validated in an independent series. Synergistic cell killing in vitro and in vivo tumor therapy was investigated in breast cancer cell lines and mouse xenograft models, respectively. Results: Sixty-four % of cases had an oncogenic alteration to PIK3CA, PTEN, or INPP4B; when including upstream kinases HER2 and EGFR, 75 % of cases had one or more aberration including 97 % of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative tumors. PTEN-loss was significantly associated to stathmin and EGFR overexpression, positivity for the BLBC markers cytokeratin 5/14, and the BLBC molecular subtype by gene expression profiling, informing a potential therapeutic combination targeting these pathways in BLBC. Combination treatment of BLBC cell lines with the EGFR-inhibitor gefitinib plus the PI3K pathway inhibitor LY294002 was synergistic, and correspondingly, in an in vivo BLBC xenograft mouse model, gefitinib plus PI3K-inhibitor PWT-458 was more effective than either monotherapy and caused tumor regression. Conclusions: Our study emphasizes the importance of PI3K/PTEN pathway activity in ER-negative and basal-like breast cancer and supports the future clinical evaluation of combining EGFR and PI3K pathway inhibitors for the treatment of BLBC.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Basal-like, Breast cancer, Combination therapy, EGFR, PTEN
in
BMC Cancer
volume
16
issue
1
article number
587
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • pmid:27484095
  • wos:000381216600021
  • scopus:84980343511
ISSN
1471-2407
DOI
10.1186/s12885-016-2609-2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ddd51ef5-fed0-4da5-bebe-fced0b49c006
date added to LUP
2016-08-25 16:34:28
date last changed
2024-04-19 07:35:36
@article{ddd51ef5-fed0-4da5-bebe-fced0b49c006,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: The basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) subtype is characterized by positive staining for basal mammary epithelial cytokeratin markers, lack of hormone receptor and HER2 expression, and poor prognosis with currently no approved molecularly-targeted therapies. The oncogenic signaling pathways driving basal-like tumorigenesis are not fully elucidated. Methods: One hundred sixteen unselected breast tumors were subjected to integrated analysis of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway related molecular aberrations by immunohistochemistry, mutation analysis, and gene expression profiling. Incidence and relationships between molecular biomarkers were characterized. Findings for select biomarkers were validated in an independent series. Synergistic cell killing in vitro and in vivo tumor therapy was investigated in breast cancer cell lines and mouse xenograft models, respectively. Results: Sixty-four % of cases had an oncogenic alteration to PIK3CA, PTEN, or INPP4B; when including upstream kinases HER2 and EGFR, 75 % of cases had one or more aberration including 97 % of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative tumors. PTEN-loss was significantly associated to stathmin and EGFR overexpression, positivity for the BLBC markers cytokeratin 5/14, and the BLBC molecular subtype by gene expression profiling, informing a potential therapeutic combination targeting these pathways in BLBC. Combination treatment of BLBC cell lines with the EGFR-inhibitor gefitinib plus the PI3K pathway inhibitor LY294002 was synergistic, and correspondingly, in an in vivo BLBC xenograft mouse model, gefitinib plus PI3K-inhibitor PWT-458 was more effective than either monotherapy and caused tumor regression. Conclusions: Our study emphasizes the importance of PI3K/PTEN pathway activity in ER-negative and basal-like breast cancer and supports the future clinical evaluation of combining EGFR and PI3K pathway inhibitors for the treatment of BLBC.</p>}},
  author       = {{She, Qing Bai and Gruvberger, Sofia and Maurer, Matthew and Chen, Yilun and Jumppanen, Mervi and Su, Tao and Dendy, Meaghan and Lau, Ying Ka Ingar and Memeo, Lorenzo and Horlings, Hugo M. and van de Vijver, Marc J. and Isola, Jorma and Hibshoosh, Hanina and Rosen, Neal and Parsons, Ramon and Saal, Lao H.}},
  issn         = {{1471-2407}},
  keywords     = {{Basal-like; Breast cancer; Combination therapy; EGFR; PTEN}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{BMC Cancer}},
  title        = {{Integrated molecular pathway analysis informs a synergistic combination therapy targeting PTEN/PI3K and EGFR pathways for basal-like breast cancer}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12885-016-2609-2}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s12885-016-2609-2}},
  volume       = {{16}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}