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Intratumoral heterogeneity as a source of discordance in breast cancer biomarker classification.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Allott, EH; Geradts, J; Sun, X; Cohen, SM; Zirpoli, GR; Khoury, T; Bshara, W; Chen, M; Sherman, ME; Palmer, JR; Ambrosone, CB; Olshan, AF ...
Published in: Breast Cancer Res
June 28, 2016

BACKGROUND: Spatial heterogeneity in biomarker expression may impact breast cancer classification. The aims of this study were to estimate the frequency of spatial heterogeneity in biomarker expression within tumors, to identify technical and biological factors contributing to spatial heterogeneity, and to examine the impact of discordant biomarker status within tumors on clinical record agreement. METHODS: Tissue microarrays (TMAs) were constructed using two to four cores (1.0 mm) for each of 1085 invasive breast cancers from the Carolina Breast Cancer Study, which is part of the AMBER Consortium. Immunohistochemical staining for estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) was quantified using automated digital imaging analysis. The biomarker status for each core and for each case was assigned using clinical thresholds. Cases with core-to-core biomarker discordance were manually reviewed to distinguish intratumoral biomarker heterogeneity from misclassification of biomarker status by the automated algorithm. The impact of core-to-core biomarker discordance on case-level agreement between TMAs and the clinical record was evaluated. RESULTS: On the basis of automated analysis, discordant biomarker status between TMA cores occurred in 9 %, 16 %, and 18 % of cases for ER, PR, and HER2, respectively. Misclassification of benign epithelium and/or ductal carcinoma in situ as invasive carcinoma by the automated algorithm was implicated in discordance among cores. However, manual review of discordant cases confirmed spatial heterogeneity as a source of discordant biomarker status between cores in 2 %, 7 %, and 8 % of cases for ER, PR, and HER2, respectively. Overall, agreement between TMA and clinical record was high for ER (94 %), PR (89 %), and HER2 (88 %), but it was reduced in cases with core-to-core discordance (agreement 70 % for ER, 61 % for PR, and 57 % for HER2). CONCLUSIONS: Intratumoral biomarker heterogeneity may impact breast cancer classification accuracy, with implications for clinical management. Both manually confirmed biomarker heterogeneity and misclassification of biomarker status by automated image analysis contribute to discordant biomarker status between TMA cores. Given that manually confirmed heterogeneity is uncommon (<10 % of cases), large studies are needed to study the impact of heterogeneous biomarker expression on breast cancer classification and outcomes.

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Published In

Breast Cancer Res

DOI

EISSN

1465-542X

Publication Date

June 28, 2016

Volume

18

Issue

1

Start / End Page

68

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Tissue Array Analysis
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Receptors, Progesterone
  • Receptors, Estrogen
  • Receptor, erbB-2
  • Receptor, ErbB-2
  • Prognosis
  • Oncology & Carcinogenesis
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Humans
 

Citation

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Allott, E. H., Geradts, J., Sun, X., Cohen, S. M., Zirpoli, G. R., Khoury, T., … Troester, M. A. (2016). Intratumoral heterogeneity as a source of discordance in breast cancer biomarker classification. Breast Cancer Res, 18(1), 68. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13058-016-0725-1
Allott, Emma H., Joseph Geradts, Xuezheng Sun, Stephanie M. Cohen, Gary R. Zirpoli, Thaer Khoury, Wiam Bshara, et al. “Intratumoral heterogeneity as a source of discordance in breast cancer biomarker classification.Breast Cancer Res 18, no. 1 (June 28, 2016): 68. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13058-016-0725-1.
Allott EH, Geradts J, Sun X, Cohen SM, Zirpoli GR, Khoury T, et al. Intratumoral heterogeneity as a source of discordance in breast cancer biomarker classification. Breast Cancer Res. 2016 Jun 28;18(1):68.
Allott, Emma H., et al. “Intratumoral heterogeneity as a source of discordance in breast cancer biomarker classification.Breast Cancer Res, vol. 18, no. 1, June 2016, p. 68. Pubmed, doi:10.1186/s13058-016-0725-1.
Allott EH, Geradts J, Sun X, Cohen SM, Zirpoli GR, Khoury T, Bshara W, Chen M, Sherman ME, Palmer JR, Ambrosone CB, Olshan AF, Troester MA. Intratumoral heterogeneity as a source of discordance in breast cancer biomarker classification. Breast Cancer Res. 2016 Jun 28;18(1):68.

Published In

Breast Cancer Res

DOI

EISSN

1465-542X

Publication Date

June 28, 2016

Volume

18

Issue

1

Start / End Page

68

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Tissue Array Analysis
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Receptors, Progesterone
  • Receptors, Estrogen
  • Receptor, erbB-2
  • Receptor, ErbB-2
  • Prognosis
  • Oncology & Carcinogenesis
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Humans