Objective:The aim of this study was to assess the real-world effectiveness and tolerability of palbociclib combined with endocrine therapy for the treatment of hormone receptor positive (HR-positive), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HER2-negative), advanced/metastatic breast cancer that progressed on previous endocrine therapy, and to compare these results with the outcomes of the PALOMA-3 clinical trial.Methods:This study was a retrospective observational cohort study including all patients who started with palbociclib in the St. Antonius Hospital between September 1, 2016 and April 1, 2018 for the treatment of HR-positive, HER2-negative advanced/metastatic breast cancer that progressed on previous endocrine therapy. Individual patient data were collected from electronic medical records. Primary study outcomes were progression-free survival (PFS) and the number of permanent treatment discontinuations before disease progression due to adverse events (AEs). Secondary outcomes were the frequency of all (serious) AEs and the frequency of and reasons for dose reductions, -interruptions and cycle delays.Results:A total of 46 patients were studied with a median follow-up of 13.0 months. Overall, the median PFS in real-world clinical practice was 10.0 months (95% confidence interval (CI) 4.9-15.1), compared with 9.5 months in PALOMA-3 (95% CI 9.2-11.0). Two patients discontinued treatment because of AEs. Neutropenia was the most frequent grade 3-4 AE, but with no febrile neutropenia events. Most AEs were managed with palbociclib dose modifications. Regarding these modifications, more cycle delays, less dose reductions, and less dose interruptions occurred in clinical practice compared with PALOMA-3 (59 vs 36%, 22 vs 34%, and 9 vs 54%, respectively). Patients who did not meet the PALOMA-3 study eligibility criteria (n = 16) showed a lower median PFS of 5.5 months (95% CI 4.7-6.4).Conclusions:The effectiveness and tolerability of palbociclib in real-world clinical practice corresponded well with the results obtained in the PALOMA-3 clinical trial. Despite the differences in dose modifications, this study suggests that there is no efficacy-effectiveness gap in this patient population.

PURPOSECyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors have emerged as effective treatments for patients with hormone receptor–positive (HR+)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–negative (HER2–) advanced/metastatic breast cancer (mBC). Dedicated research efforts have been undertaken to find predictive biomarkers of response or resistance to these therapies although no molecular biomarkers for mBC have reached the clinic so far. This review aims to summarize and evaluate the performance of biomarkers in predicting progression-free survival in phase II and III clinical trials of CDK4/6 inhibitors in HR+/HER2– mBC.METHODSFor this narrative review, a structured literature search of PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane library (CENTRAL) was performed. Phase II or III clinical trials of a CDK4/6 inhibitor in patients with HR+/HER2– mBC reporting on at least one molecular biomarker analysis of progression-free survival were included. Publications and selected conference abstracts were included up until November 2021.RESULTSTwenty-two articles reporting biomarker results of 12 clinical trials were included. Retinoblastoma protein status and cyclin E1 mRNA expression were promising baseline biomarkers, whereas PIK3CA circulating tumor DNA ratio on treatment relative to baseline, change in plasma thymidine kinase activity, and circulating tumor cell count were potential dynamic biomarkers of response. A number of biomarkers were unsuccessful, despite a strong mechanistic rationale, and others are still being explored.CONCLUSIONOur review of clinical trials showed that there are a number of promising biomarkers at baseline and several dynamic biomarkers that might predict response to CDK4/6 inhibitors. Validation of these findings and assessment of clinical utility are crucial to make the final translation to clinical practice. Better understanding of disease heterogeneity and further elucidation of resistance mechanisms could inform future studies of rationally selected biomarkers.

Background: While new treatments and improved subtyping schemas are anticipated to improve treatment response in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients, therapeutic resistance remains a significant challenge. Moreover, there is an urgent need for additional research model systems to study resistance and residual disease in breast cancer, including aggressive subtypes of breast cancer. Organoid culture is a promising technology used for growing breast cancer cells with high efficiency; however, the extent to which treatment resistance can be modeled using this system is unknown. This research used patient-derived organoid cultures in the context of computational analyses of large molecular and clinical datasets to study resistance mechanisms, biomarkers, and alternative treatment strategies to overcome drug resistance in early-stage TNBC. Methods: Organoid cultures were derived from breast tumor samples (taken from lumpectomy, mastectomy, or core biopsy samples), digested to the organoid level using collagenase, and grown in three dimensional cultures using a basement membrane extract and a fully-defined organoid medium (Dekkers et al. Nat Protoc 2021). An evaluation of all available I-SPY2 biomarker data (Wolf et al. Cancer Cell 2022) was performed focusing on genes, proteins, and pathways associated with resistance. These were then used to study whether resistance biomarkers identified in patient tumors are also present in organoids propagated from breast cancer post-treatment residual disease. To this end, bulk RNA sequencing data of organoids were normalized and merged with the TCGA dataset (Hoadley et al. Cell 2018) to enable analysis in a larger context, and immunofluorescence staining of organoids was performed. A high-throughput 386 anti-cancer drug compound screen and subsequent synergy testing with the most promising compounds were performed to identify and predict alternative treatment strategies. Additional assays to explore kinome activity in this organoid model are in progress. Results: A TNBC organoid biobank was established (n=31), which was enriched for inflammatory breast cancer (IBC; n=15), an aggressive form of breast cancer. Most organoids were derived from residual disease after neoadjuvant therapy. Bulk RNA sequencing analysis performed on 10 TNBC organoids revealed 3 subsets that were characterized predominantly by either normal-like/luminal androgen receptor or basal-like features or expressed distinct gene expression profiles, with IBC cases present in all 3 subsets. Intriguingly, the IBC organoids were characterized by higher expression of a number of immune-related signatures, despite an absence of clear immune cells in culture. A residual disease IBC/TNBC organoid resistant to chemotherapy was used to perform the 386-drug compound screen. The organoid model showed resistance to veliparib-cisplatin, consistent with the expression of gene/protein biomarkers predictive of drug resistance found in I-SPY2 (low PARPi7 levels and high pFOXO1 and pMEK1/2 expression). In addition, the screen identified multiple classes of inhibitors as promising synergistic/additive candidates for overcoming resistance to cisplatin. Conclusion: In this proof-of-principle study, we demonstrated the utility of matching I-SPY2 resistance biomarkers and signatures to residual disease tumor organoid cultures. We show that tumor organoid cultures modeling drug resistance states are a useful complement to existing research models of breast cancer and can be used for compound testing. We have developed a pipeline to propagate residual tumors from patients enrolled in I-SPY2 into organoid cultures to create a broader platform for preclinical drug testing informed by tumor biology with the ultimate goal of enabling faster, more successful translational studies and increased treatment options for resistant disease. Citation Format: Tam Binh V. Bui, Denise M. Wolf, Kaitlin Moore, Isaac S. Harris, Pravin Phadatare, Christina Yau, Lamorna A. Brown Swigart, Laura J. Esserman, Jean-Philippe Coppe, Julia Wulfkuhle, Emanuel F. Petricoin, Michael Campbell, Laura M. Selfors, Deborah A. Dillon, Beth Overmoyer, Filipa Lynce, Laura Van ’t Veer, Jennifer Rosenbluth. PD5-02 An Organoid Model System to Study Resistance Mechanisms, Predictive Biomarkers, and New Strategies to Overcome Therapeutic Resistance in Early-Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr PD5-02.