ESR1 mutation

Our study provides an example of implementation of molecular profiling in an academic pre-screening program. Further analysis will investigate treatment matching rates, drug access schemes, and their impact on treatment efficacy and survival.

We achieved a remarkable response in the metastatic lesions with minor toxicity issues. This case highlights the importance of utilizing up-to-date therapeutic agents and reactive decision-making during personalized cancer treatment.

The APIS ESR1 Mutations Kit demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity as a qualitative qPCR assay for detecting ESR1 mutations in varying WT backgrounds. Its performance with the SensID ESR1 Reference Set 1% AF cfDNA validated the kit's LoD at ≤1% MAF with external samples. The APIS kit is a valuable tool for assessing ESR1 mutations in both clinical and research settings, offering a more accessible alternative to traditional next-generation sequencing (NGS) and dPCR assays.

P3, N=400, Not yet recruiting, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center; Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center

No abstract available

Taken together, these data indicate that ESR1 mutations confer chemoresistance through activation of the JNK/MDR1 axis. These finding suggest a novel treatment option for BC tumors expressing ESR1 mutations.

Estrogen receptor one (ESR1) gene mutations, driving resistance to aromatase inhibitors (AIs), may guide the use of fulvestrant or emerging oral selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs) like elacestrant. Targeting mutations like breast cancer gene 1 and 2 (BRCA 1/2) with Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors or the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway provides therapeutic options. The advent of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) like trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) and novel agents targeting Trophoblast cell surface antigen-2 (Trop-2) introduces further complexity, underscoring the need for early intervention targeting specific genomic alterations in metastatic BC.

P3, N=320, Active, not recruiting, Genentech, Inc. | Recruiting --> Active, not recruiting | Trial primary completion date: Oct 2024 --> Mar 2026

In the liquid biopsies, we detected ESR1 mutations in 42 cases (25.9%) and ERBB2 mutations in six cases (3.7%), arguing for a change in therapy to fulvestrant, elacestrant, or neratinib. Furthermore, 17 cases had detectable TP53 mutations, associated with resistance against endocrine therapy. We conclude that liquid biopsy testing is a noninvasive, sensitive, and helpful method to optimize therapeutic decisions in metastatic BC.

These findings suggest a potential reduction in lasofoxifene efficacy due to the dual mutation. Further experimental validation is required to confirm these results and fully understand the impact of dual mutations on lasofoxifene's effectiveness in ERα + metastatic BC.

The developed novel multi-marker liquid bead array assay for the simultaneous detection of PIK3CA and ESR1 hotspot mutations in single CTCs is highly specific, highly sensitive, high-throughput, and sample-, cost-, and time-saving. This multi-marker liquid bead array assay can be extended to detect up to 100 mutations in many genes at once and can be applied for bulk CTC and ctDNA analysis.

This review highlights recent efforts in drug development of next generation ER-targeted agents, including oral selective ER degraders (SERDs), proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) ER degraders, other innovative molecules such as complete estrogen receptor antagonists (CERANs) and selective estrogen receptor covalent antagonists (SERCAs). The drug design, efficacy and clinical trials for each compound were detailed.

ER+/HER2- mBCs carrying ESR1MUT exhibit a divergent genomic background, characterized by a lower prevalence of TP53 and MAPK pathway alterations. Less common ESR1 alterations falling outside the H11-H12 region seem to occur in tumors with higher TMB, deserving further investigation to understand their potential actionability.

P3, N=312, Active, not recruiting, AstraZeneca | Recruiting --> Active, not recruiting

P=N/A, N=70, Recruiting, AstraZeneca | Trial completion date: Dec 2024 --> Dec 2025 | Trial primary completion date: Dec 2024 --> Dec 2025

This analysis identified acquired gene alterations in patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer treated with ribociclib plus ET or placebo plus ET. These data may support further studies on acquired resistance mechanisms and inform future systemic interventions in the post-CDK4/6 inhibitor setting.

Oral SERDs constitute an exciting new drug class. Ongoing and future research will further refine the role of these drugs next to standard endocrine treatments and targeted therapies.

The mutant model of the pathogenic SNP H516N was generated, and hydroxytamoxifen was docked with the wild-type and the mutant model. The mutant model lost the formation of stable hydrogen bonds with the active site residues and hydroxytamoxifen, which may result in reduced binding affinity and therefore, will predict the patient's response to estrogenic inhibitors.

No such effect was observed for ESR1 mutations, with a rate ratio of 1.15 (confidence interval 0.67-1.95). We conclude that ER loss and ESR1 mutation together account for 30% of the resistance to endocrine therapy.

More recently, oral SERDs have been tested in patients with early hormone receptor positive breast cancer, although their impact on survival and in this curative setting compared to standard endocrine therapy still needs to be elucidated. The best timing and duration of SERD administration and specific biomarkers in (neo)adjuvant setting remain largely unknown.

Adding the CDK4/6 inhibitor palbociclib enhanced the antitumor activity of EP0062 or fulvestrant in ESR1-mutant models but not in HER2-enriched or PTEN-mutant PDX models...EP0062 triggers an E2F1 downmodulation which mediates a potent antiproliferative activity. For EP0062-resistant tumors that remain ER-driven, the addition of palbociclib displays a potent antitumor effect.

Imlunestrant, as monotherapy or in combination with targeted therapy, had a manageable safety profile with evidence of preliminary antitumor activity in ER+/HER2- ABC.

Molecular profiling allowed the identification of ESR1Y537S, in an aggressive prolactinoma. ESR1Y537S was not detected early in the course of the disease and is likely conferring tumor aggressiveness. This finding emphasizes the significance of estrogen receptor signaling in prolactinomas. It also allowed the use of targeted therapy with successful control of disease progression.

For patients with hormone receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative (HR+/HER2-) metastatic breast cancer (mBC) progressed on first-line endocrine therapy plus a cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitor (CDK4/6i), fulvestrant, a selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) administered intramuscularly, represented the only monotherapy option until the approval of elacestrant. However, in Europe, the access to this recommended drug depends on the decision of the National Health Authorities of each state. In this communication, we describe the main results and implications of the EMERALD trial, in the context of the biomarker-driven algorithm for patients with HR+/HER2- mBC progressed on CDK4/6i, and conclude that a subgroup of patients with ESR1-mutant tumors and specific clinical features can really derive a clinically meaningful benefit from elacestrant, sparing access to more toxic combination approaches and preserving the quality of life.

P1/2, N=49, Active, not recruiting, Carrick Therapeutics Limited | Recruiting --> Active, not recruiting

We present the largest study of BC variant frequencies in a cohort of Irish breast cancer patients to date and confirm NGS is feasible and identifies clinically relevant and actionable variants. We confirm that the frequency of PIK3CA alterations, in addition to codon specificity, are comparable to those observed in European and US cohorts and demonstrate that the detection of clinically relevant biomarkers is not confined to ER positive HER2 negative BC. The tissue failure rate (19%) underscores the need for cfDNA testing to identify the expanding range of actionable targets in BC to improve access to emerging targeted therapies and biomarker-driven clinical trials.

The primary endpoint is distant metastasis free survival and secondary endpoints are invasive disease-free survival, relapse-free survival, overall survival, safety and quality of life. Recruitment started in December 2023 in Belgium and is planned to open in 11 more countries in 2024: Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The APIS ESR1 Mutations Kit showcased highly specific and sensitive detection of both the mutations present in the SensID ESR1 Reference Set 1% AF cfDNA and wildtype ESR1 from highly fragmented FFPE-derived DNA. Here, the kit’s LoD was affirmed at ≤1% MAF for cfDNA-based sample types and compatibility for detecting ESR1 mutations was demonstrated with both cfDNA and FFPEderived DNA samples.

P=N/A, N=70, Not yet recruiting, AstraZeneca

No abstract available

Camizestrant is a next-generation oral SERD and pure ER antagonist with a tolerable safety profile. The pharmacokinetics profile supports once-daily dosing, with evidence of pharmacodynamic and clinical efficacy in heavily pre-treated patients, regardless of ESR1m. This study established 75, 150 and 300 mg QD doses for Phase 2 testing (SERENA-2, NCT04214288 and SERENA-3, NCT04588298).

Elacestrant, a second-line ER degrader, increases overall free-survival in patients with resistant breast cancer and ESR1Y537S...Abstracts presented at a news conference are embargoed until the date and time of the news conference. The Endocrine Society reserves the right to lift the embargo on specific abstracts that are selected for promotion prior to or during ENDO.

P3, N=240, Not yet recruiting, MedSIR

We summarized the ctDNA and cancer tissue mutational landscape, including overall neoplastic burden and PIK3CA and ESR1 hotspot mutations in abemaciclib-treated patients with HR+/HER2- MBC. The data provide insights that could help optimize treatment strategies in this population.

In this review we discuss the history of ERα, current research unlocking unknown aspects of ERα signaling including the structural basis for receptor antagonism, and future directions of ESR1 investigation. In addition, we discuss the development of endocrine therapies from their inception to present day and survey new avenues of drug development to improve pharmaceutical profiles, targeting, and efficacy.

Until 2023, fulvestrant was the only approved SERD; fulvestrant is administered intramuscularly, and in some cases may also have limited efficacy in the setting of certain ESR1 mutations. Elacestrant's recent approval sheds light on the use of biomarkers such as ESR1 to gauge a tumor's endocrine sensitivity. Ongoing therapeutic and correlative biomarker studies will offer new insight and expanding treatment options for patients with advanced breast cancer.

P2, N=100, Active, not recruiting, Sermonix Pharmaceuticals Inc. | Trial completion date: Feb 2024 --> Dec 2024 | Trial primary completion date: Feb 2024 --> Dec 2024

P2, N=100, Recruiting, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins | Trial completion date: Jul 2024 --> Feb 2025 | Trial primary completion date: Mar 2024 --> Oct 2024

Additionally, protein expression and phosphorylation patterns, while under different regulation, still recapitulated the estrogen-independent phenotype of ER mutant cells. Our study is the first proteome-centric characterization of ESR1 mutant models, out of which we confirm estrogen independence of ER mutants and reveal the enrichment of immune signaling pathways at the proteomic level.

Although the acelERA BC study did not reach statistical significance for its primary INV-PFS end point, there was a consistent treatment effect with giredestrant across most key subgroups and a trend toward favorable benefit among patients with ESR1-mutated tumors. Giredestrant was well tolerated, with a safety profile comparable to PCET and consistent with known endocrine therapy risks. Overall, these data support the continued investigation of giredestrant in other studies.

Multi-omics data from the phase IIa patients (n = 24 tumor/17 blood biopsy exomes; n = 27 tumor transcriptomes) showed potential mechanisms of resistance (convergent evolution of HER2 activation, BRAFV600E), identified joint genomic/transcriptomic resistance features (ESR1 mutations, high estrogen receptor pathway activity, and a Luminal A/B subtype; ERBB2/BRAF mutations, high RTK/MAPK pathway activity, and a HER2-E subtype), and provided hypothesis-generating results suggesting that mTOR pathway activation correlates with response to the trial's therapy. Our results illustrate how genome and transcriptome sequencing may help better identify patients likely to respond to CDK4/6i therapies.

However, following the breast cancer-specific FDA approvals of alpelisib+fulvestrant for PIK3CA-mutant disease in 2019 and elacestrant for ESR1-mutant disease in 2023, a significant shift in Level 1 actionability was observed between EUR (45%) and AFR (34%) attributed in part to the paucity of PIK3CA (26.3% vs. 36.2% in EUR) and ESR1 (4.1% vs. 7.5% in EUR) oncogenic alterations in AFR.We further observed AFR with CRC to have lower prevalence of MSI-H (5.8% vs.10.7% in EUR), TMB (12.5% vs. 18.8% in EUR) and BRAF V600E (5.1% vs. 9% in EUR). Correspondingly, in 2023, 16.4% of AFR with CRC have Level 1 alterations compared to 25.4% of EUR. Moreover, while AFR have higher rates of KRAS mutations (57.2% vs. 42.6% in EUR), they have a lower prevalence of the standard care biomarker KRAS G12C (3.4% vs. 7% of KRAS-mutant CRC in EUR) further exacerbating the disparities in CRC clinical actionability.Taken together, here we demonstrate that a significant disparity exists in the clinical actionability landscape of AFR with cancer compared to EUR, largely due to differences in relative mutational frequencies of Level 1 genomic alterations.