Responsiveness of Intrinsic Subtypes to Adjuvant Anthracycline Substitution in the NCIC.CTG MA.5 Randomized Trial Journal Articles uri icon

  •  
  • Overview
  •  
  • Research
  •  
  • Identity
  •  
  • Additional Document Info
  •  
  • View All
  •  

abstract

  • Abstract Purpose: Recent studies suggest that intrinsic breast cancer subtypes may differ in their responsiveness to specific chemotherapy regimens. We examined this hypothesis on NCIC.CTG MA.5, a clinical trial randomizing premenopausal women with node-positive breast cancer to adjuvant CMF (cyclophosphamide-methotrexate-fluorouracil) versus CEF (cyclophosphamide-epirubicin-fluorouracil) chemotherapy. Experimental Design: Intrinsic subtype was determined for 476 tumors using the quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR PAM50 gene expression test. Luminal A, luminal B, HER2-enriched (HER2-E), and basal-like subtypes were correlated with relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS), estimated using Kaplan–Meier plots and log-rank testing. Multivariable Cox regression analyses determined significance of interaction between treatment and intrinsic subtypes. Results: Intrinsic subtypes were associated with RFS (P = 0.0005) and OS (P < 0.0001) on the combined cohort. The HER2-E showed the greatest benefit from CEF versus CMF, with absolute 5-year RFS and OS differences exceeding 20%, whereas there was a less than 2% difference for non–HER2-E tumors (interaction test P = 0.03 for RFS and 0.03 for OS). Within clinically defined Her2+ tumors, 79% (72 of 91) were classified as the HER2-E subtype by gene expression and this subset was strongly associated with better response to CEF versus CMF (62% vs. 22%, P = 0.0006). There was no significant difference in benefit between CEF and CMF in basal-like tumors [n = 94; HR, 1.1; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.6–2.1 for RFS and HR, 1.3; 95% CI, 0.7–2.5 for OS]. Conclusion: HER2-E strongly predicted anthracycline sensitivity. The chemotherapy-sensitive basal-like tumors showed no added benefit for CEF over CMF, suggesting that nonanthracycline regimens may be adequate in this subtype although further investigation is required. Clin Cancer Res; 18(8); 2402–12. ©2012 AACR.

authors

  • Cheang, Maggie CU
  • Voduc, K David
  • Tu, Dongsheng
  • Jiang, Shan
  • Leung, Samuel
  • Chia, Stephen K
  • Shepherd, Lois E
  • Levine, Mark Norman
  • Pritchard, Kathleen I
  • Davies, Sherri
  • Stijleman, Inge J
  • Davis, Carole
  • Ebbert, Mark TW
  • Parker, Joel S
  • Ellis, Matthew J
  • Bernard, Philip S
  • Perou, Charles M
  • Nielsen, Torsten O

publication date

  • April 15, 2012