The impact of concomitant genomic alterations on treatment outcome for trastuzumab therapy in HER2-positive gastric cancer

Sci Rep. 2015 Mar 19:5:9289. doi: 10.1038/srep09289.

Abstract

Clinical benefit from trastuzumab and other anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) therapies in patients with HER2-positive gastric cancer (GC) remains limited by primary or acquired resistance. We aimed to investigate the impact of concomitant molecular alterations to HER2 amplification on the clinical outcome of trastuzumab-treated patients. Using immunohistochemistry (IHC), copy number variations (CNVs), and Ion Ampliseq Cancer Panel, we analyzed the status of concomitant alterations in 50 HER2-positive advanced GC patients treated with trastuzumab in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents. The percentage of tumor samples with at least one concomitant alteration was 40% as assessed by IHC, 16% by CNVs, and 64% by Ampliseq sequencing. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 8.0 months (95% confidence interval, 4.8-11.3). Patients were divided into two subgroups according to PFS values with a cutoff point of 8 months; results show that concomitant genomic alterations do not correlate with trastuzumab response. However, CNVs of CCNE1 significantly correlated (p < 0.05) with a shorter survival time. Our findings indicate that additional alterations implemented for prediction of clinical benefit from HER2-targeting agents in GC remained unclear. Further studies will be needed to elucidate the role of each specific biomarker and to optimize therapeutic approaches.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / therapeutic use*
  • DNA Copy Number Variations
  • Female
  • Genetic Variation*
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Molecular Targeted Therapy
  • Neoplasm Grading
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Prognosis
  • Receptor, ErbB-2 / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Receptor, ErbB-2 / genetics*
  • Receptor, ErbB-2 / metabolism
  • Stomach Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Stomach Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Stomach Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Stomach Neoplasms / mortality
  • Stomach Neoplasms / pathology
  • Trastuzumab / administration & dosage
  • Trastuzumab / therapeutic use*
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Receptor, ErbB-2
  • Trastuzumab