Eur J Cancer. 2021 Dec 22. pii: S0959-8049(21)01245-4. [Epub ahead of print]162 45-55
Caroline A Peuker,
Sarvenaz Yaghobramzi,
Corinna Grunert,
Luisa Keilholz,
Enio Gjerga,
Steffen Hennig,
Sigrid Schaper,
Il-Kang Na,
Ulrich Keller,
Sara Brucker,
Thomas Decker,
Peter Fasching,
Tanja Fehm,
Wolfgang Janni,
Sherko Kümmel,
Andreas Schneeweiss,
Martin Schuler,
Diana Lüftner,
Antonia Busse.
BACKGROUND: Inhibitors of the cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6i) have significantly improved clinical outcomes in patients with advanced hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancer and have demonstrated favourable antitumour immune responses in preclinical studies.
METHODS: Here, we investigated peripheral immune responses to ribociclib in patients with metastatic HR+ breast cancer as a preplanned exploratory subanalysis of the RIBECCA trial (NCT03096847). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were subjected to immune cell profiling, gene expression analysis of immune-related signatures, and deep T cell receptor profiling before treatment started and after 12 weeks of treatment with ribociclib.
RESULTS: Gene expression analysis revealed an upregulation of signatures associated with an activated adaptive immune system and a decrease in immunosuppressive cytokine signalling during treatment with ribociclib. Profiling of peripheral immune cell subpopulations showed a decrease in Treg cell frequencies, which was associated with treatment response. Furthermore, induction of CD4+ naive T cells could be seen, whereas effector and memory T cell populations remained largely unchanged. Correspondingly, T cell repertoire diversity remained mostly unchanged during treatment, although an increase in clonality could be observed in single patients.
CONCLUSIONS: We show that treatment with ribociclib has significant effects on the peripheral innate and adaptive immune response in patients with HR+ breast cancer. Our data suggest that these effects lead to an activation of an already existing immune response rather than a de novo induction and make a strong case for future combination strategies of CDK4/6i with immunotherapies to enhance the adaptive immune response in HR+ breast cancer.
Keywords: Adaptive immunity; Breast cancer; CDK4/6 inhibitors; Immunomodulation; Ribociclib