Constitutive phosphorylated STAT3-associated gene signature is predictive for trastuzumab resistance in primary HER2-positive breast cancer
Sonnenblick, Amir; Brohée, Sylvain; Fumagalli, Debora; Vincent, Delphine; Venet, David; Ignatiadis, Michail; Saldago, Robert; Van den Eynden, Gert; Rothé, Francoise; Desmedt, Christine; Neven, Patrik; Loibl, Sibylle; Denkert, Carsten; Joensuu, Heikki; Loi, Sherene; Sirtaine, Nicolas; Kellokumpu-Lehtinen, Pirkko-Liisa; Piccart, Martine; Sotiriou, Christos (2015)
2015
BMC Medicine 13
77
Lääketieteen yksikkö - School of Medicine
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201508252249
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201508252249
Kuvaus
BioMed Central open access
Tiivistelmä
Background
The likelihood of recurrence in patients with breast cancer who have HER2-positive tumors is relatively high, although trastuzumab is a remarkably effective drug in this setting. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 protein (STAT3), a transcription factor that is persistently tyrosine-705 phosphorylated (pSTAT3) in response to numerous oncogenic signaling pathways, activates downstream proliferative and anti-apoptotic pathways. We hypothesized that pSTAT3 expression in HER2-positive breast cancer will confer trastuzumab resistance.
Methods
We integrated reverse phase protein array (RPPA) and gene expression data from patients with HER2-positive breast cancer treated with trastuzumab in the adjuvant setting.
Results
We show that a pSTAT3-associated gene signature (pSTAT3-GS) is able to predict pSTAT3 status in an independent dataset (TCGA; AUC = 0.77, P = 0.02). This suggests that STAT3 induces a characteristic set of gene expression changes in HER2-positive cancers. Tumors characterized as high pSTAT3-GS were associated with trastuzumab resistance (log rank P = 0.049). These results were confirmed using data from the prospective, randomized controlled FinHer study, where the effect was especially prominent in HER2-positive estrogen receptor (ER)-negative tumors (interaction test P = 0.02). Of interest, constitutively activated pSTAT3 tumors were associated with loss of PTEN, elevated IL6, and stromal reactivation.
Conclusions
This study provides compelling evidence for a link between pSTAT3 and trastuzumab resistance in HER2-positive primary breast cancers. Our results suggest that it may be valuable to add agents targeting the STAT3 pathway to trastuzumab for treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer.
The likelihood of recurrence in patients with breast cancer who have HER2-positive tumors is relatively high, although trastuzumab is a remarkably effective drug in this setting. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 protein (STAT3), a transcription factor that is persistently tyrosine-705 phosphorylated (pSTAT3) in response to numerous oncogenic signaling pathways, activates downstream proliferative and anti-apoptotic pathways. We hypothesized that pSTAT3 expression in HER2-positive breast cancer will confer trastuzumab resistance.
Methods
We integrated reverse phase protein array (RPPA) and gene expression data from patients with HER2-positive breast cancer treated with trastuzumab in the adjuvant setting.
Results
We show that a pSTAT3-associated gene signature (pSTAT3-GS) is able to predict pSTAT3 status in an independent dataset (TCGA; AUC = 0.77, P = 0.02). This suggests that STAT3 induces a characteristic set of gene expression changes in HER2-positive cancers. Tumors characterized as high pSTAT3-GS were associated with trastuzumab resistance (log rank P = 0.049). These results were confirmed using data from the prospective, randomized controlled FinHer study, where the effect was especially prominent in HER2-positive estrogen receptor (ER)-negative tumors (interaction test P = 0.02). Of interest, constitutively activated pSTAT3 tumors were associated with loss of PTEN, elevated IL6, and stromal reactivation.
Conclusions
This study provides compelling evidence for a link between pSTAT3 and trastuzumab resistance in HER2-positive primary breast cancers. Our results suggest that it may be valuable to add agents targeting the STAT3 pathway to trastuzumab for treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer.
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