A Single-Cell Atlas of HR+ Breast Cancer Reveals the Shifting of the Tumor Microenvironment in Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy
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ABSTRACT: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is the standard presurgery treatment for HR+ breast cancer (HR+ BC), but its response rate is frequently unsatisfactory, and the mechanism of chemoresistance and how NAC reshapes the immune microenvironment are still poorly understood. To investigate this question, the transcriptomes and spatial distribution patterns of cancer cells and immune cells from paired HR+ BC samples pre- and post-NAC were characterized with single-cell RNA sequencing (N=8) and multiplexed immunofluorescence staining (N=21).
Project description:Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is the standard treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), yet 40% of patients progress, emphasizing the need for biomarkers predictive for response or chemoresistance. Gene expression-based subtypes may serve as biomarkers, though which subtypes will respond, notably when it comes to the basal subtype, remains contentious. Patients and methods: This post hoc study analyzed 300 NAC-treated patients enrolled in the GETUG/AFU VESPER trial, with transurethral diagnostic formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded which underwent pathological review before being sequenced. ‘Mixed’ subtype was defined for tumors displaying at least two different Consensus molecular subtypes in separate regions. We evaluated the association between molecular subtypes and outcome after NAC. Tumors with remaining tissue at cystectomy (n ¼ 83) were compared with pre-treatment tumors. Results: Cases were classified basal/squamous (Ba/Sq) (n ¼ 84), luminal unstable (n = 57), stroma-rich (n = 53), mixed (n = 48), luminal papillary (n ¼ 39), luminal non-specific (n = 18), and neuroendocrine-like (n ¼ 1), with 30/48 mixed cases including a Ba/Sq component. Compared with other molecular subtypes in a multivariate Cox model, Ba/Sq (pure or mixed) patients had an increased hazard ratio (HR) of progression-free survival [HR 2.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.36-3.0]. Mixed tumors were associated with decreased metabolic activity that could account for chemoresistance. Ba/Sq and mixed non-responders mostly maintained their subtype at cystectomy and have fewer myeloid dendritic cells after NAC. Tumors classified luminal papillary at transurethral resection of the urinary bladder tumor exhibited an increase in T CD4þ and macrophage signatures after NAC. Other subtypes did not show significant immune changes after NAC. Our study design relied on detailed pathological review, which precluded evaluating the mixed subtype in published datasets. Furthermore, the sample size for post-NAC analyses constrained the statistical power of these findings. Conclusions: Our findings underscore the importance of recognizing intra-tumor heterogeneity in MIBC and its role in chemoresistance associated with Ba/Sq subtype, and provide valuable insights that could help future treatment development and improve patient outcomes.
Project description:In this study, we have analyzed the transcriptional patterns of breast cancer cell lines and tumors of NAC resistant patients evaluated by GGI, and screened potential genes associated with chemoresistance. Furthermore, we have constructed a neoadjuvant chemotherapy response risk model and examined the evaluation accuracy of the risk score for NAC response. We conducted molecular bioinformatics analysis of the genes that constitute the chemotherapy resistance risk score, and explored potential drugs to reverse breast cancer chemotherapy resistance. Finally, we have examined the the risk score for predicting prognosis in breast cancer. In all, we have reported a novel signature to evaluate neoadjuvant chemotherapy response and predicts prognosis in breast cancer, and screened out potential drugs to reverse chemotherapy resistance in breast cancer.
Project description:Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has been of recent interest as an alternative to upfront surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, a subset of patients does not respond to NAC and may have been better managed by upfront surgery. Hence, there is an unmet need for accurate biomarkers for predicting NAC response in PDAC. This project aimed to identify upregulated proteins in tumor tissue from poor- and good-NAC responders.
Project description:<p>Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for breast cancer is widely employed. We performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to determine if germline genetic variability was associated with benefits, in terms of pathological complete response (pCR), disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS), in patients entered on the NSABP B-40 NAC (National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project, B-40, Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy) trial where some patients were randomized to receive bevacizumab, in addition to chemotherapy. </p>
Project description:Methylome-wide DNA methylation profiling of spatially separated breast tumor samples pre- and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) to characterize methylation heterogeneity alteration by NAC. The Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450K Beadchip v1.2 was used to obtain DNA methylation profiles across approximately 485,000 CpGs in the 47 samples derived from 8 breast cancer patients.
Project description:A Single-Cell Atlas of HR+ Breast Cancer Reveals the Shifting of the Tumor Microenvironment in Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy
Project description:In a cohort study of 7 women with primary invasive breast cancer, we obtained a tumor specimen before (biopsy) and after (tumorectomy) 4 cycles of NAC with epirubicine and cyclophosphamide, followed by 4 cycles of taxanes. Total RNA was extracted from tumor specimens and the whole transcriptome was quantified with Affymetrix HuGene1.1ST. Molecular functions changing during chemotherapy were searched. Whole genome expression of triple negative breast cancer tissues were measured before and after four cycles neoadjuvant chemotherapy
Project description:To identify the differential expression of lncRNAs, we performed the lncRNA microarray analysis with three pairs of breast cancer tissues before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) from partially responded patients by Arraystar Human LncRNA Microarray V3.0.
Project description:In this study, we comprehensively investigated the impact of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) on immune cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) using single cell RNA sequence. CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, dendritic cells, and macrophages in TME of ESCC all showed higher levels of anti-tumor immune response in the NAC(+) group than in the NAC(-) group. Furthermore, the immune cells in the TME of the NAC(+) group interacted with each other to enhance the anti-tumor immune response. Our results suggest that NAC potentially enhance the anti-tumor immune response of immune cells in the TME.
Project description:Despite cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) 60% of patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer still have residual invasive disease at radical cystectomy (RC). The NAC-induced biological alterations in these cisplatin-resistant tumors remain largely unstudied. We analyzed gene expression from 133 patients with residual invasive disease after cisplatin-based NAC. H&E and immunohistochemistry were used to confirm tissue sampling and gene expression analysis. Established molecular subtyping models proved to be inconsistent in their classification of the post-NAC samples. Unsupervised consensus clustering revealed four distinct consensus clusters (CC). The CC1-Basal and CC2-Luminal subtypes expressed genes consistent with a basal-like and a luminal-like phenotype, respectively. The CC3-Immune subtype had the highest immune activity, including T-cell infiltration and checkpoint molecule expression, but lacked both basal and luminal markers. The CC4-Scar-like subtype expressed genes associated with wound-healing/ scarring and was associated with favorable prognosis.