Degnim, Amy C.

Abstract Background: Women with benign breast disease (BBD) experience an increased risk of breast cancer (BC). Histologic classification of BBD, as non-proliferative disease (NP), proliferative disease without atypia (PDWA) or atypical hyperplasia (AH), stratifies groups of patients into progressively higher categories of BC risk. However, this classification does not comprehensively assess the proliferative state of the epithelium throughout the biopsy. In addition, while AH is considered the most high-risk class of BBD, it is not always a highly proliferative lesion; atypical ductal lesions may reflect focal cytologic and architectural changes. We evaluated the association of an alternative classification of BBD severity and BC risk based on subjective grading of: 1) the maximal degree of epithelial proliferation and 2) multifocality of epithelial proliferation. Methods: Pathologists reviewed biopsies from participants aged 18 to 85 years in the Mayo BBD cohort (2002-2013), masked to BC outcomes, ascertained via questionnaires, tumor registry data and medical record review. Biopsies were classified as NP, PDWA or AH and semi-quantitatively scored for: 1) maximal degree of epithelial proliferation within a focus (DP) (0-3; none to severe) and 2) multifocality of proliferation (MP) (0-3; none to multiple foci). DP and MP scores were also summed to give a DP+MP score (0-6). Associations of DP and MP with BC risk were examined using Cox proportional hazards regression analyses, adjusting for age at BBD biopsy. Women were followed from date of initial biopsy to date of BC, death or last follow-up. Results: Of the 1529 assessable biopsies, 544 (35.6%) were classified as NP, 708 (46.3%) as PDWA and 277 (18.1%) as AH. Both DP and MP scores had significant positive correlation with increasing BBD severity (DP: r=0.51, p< 0.001; MP: r=0.52, p< 0.001). Mean (SD) DP scores were 0.6 (0.6) for NP, 1.6 (0.9) for PDWA, and 1.8 (0.7) for AH (ANOVA p<0.001). Mean (SD) for MP scores were 0.6 (0.6) for NP, 1.4 (0.8) for PDWA, and 1.8 (0.8) for AH (ANOVA p<0.001). Mean (SD) for DP+MP scores were 1.2 (1.2) for NP, 2.9 (1.5) for PDWA, and 3.6 (1.2) for AH (ANOVA p<0.001). With median follow-up of 8.8 years for controls and 5.3 years for cases, 10.6% of the women in the cohort developed BC. Compared to those with DP scores of 0, women with DP scores of 3 had significantly increased BC risk (HR 1.42, 95% CI: 1.16, 1.74, p=0.003). MP was associated with a non-significant increase in BC risk for scores of 3 versus 0 (HR: 1.20, 95% CI: 0.97,1.49, p=0.11). DP+MP scores of 6 conferred the highest BC risk (HR (score 6 vs. 0): 1.62, 95% CI 1.18,2.21, p=0.02). Results did not substantively differ after adjusting for BBD severity as NP, PDWA or AH. Conclusions: In this preliminary analysis within the Mayo BBD cohort, both proliferative degree (DP) and multifocality (MP) scores were correlated with histologic severity of BBD. DP and DP+MP scores were each associated with increased BC risk. We conclude that improved characterization of epithelial proliferation in BBD biopsies may enable refined prediction of individual BC risk. Citation Format: Jodi M Carter, Matthew R Jensen, Robert A Vierkant, Stacey J Winham, Tanya L Hoskin, Marlene Frost, Karthik Ghosh, Derek C Radisky, Amy C Degnim, Mark E Sherman. Epithelial proliferation score as an independent breast cancer risk predictor in benign breast disease [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PD10-10.

Abstract Endocrine therapy is underutilized to reduce breast cancer incidence among women at increased risk. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) assessing 77 breast cancer genetic susceptibility loci personalizes risk estimates. We examined effect of personalized PRS breast cancer risk prediction on intention to take and endocrine therapy uptake among women at increased risk. Eligible participants had a 10-year breast cancer risk ≥5% by Tyrer–Cuzick model [International Breast Cancer Intervention Study (IBIS)] or ≥3.0 % 5-year Gail Model risk with no breast cancer history or hereditary breast cancer syndrome. Breast cancer risk was estimated, endocrine therapy options were discussed, and endocrine therapy intent was assessed at baseline. After genotyping, PRS-updated breast cancer risk estimates, endocrine therapy options, and intent to take endocrine therapy were reassessed; endocrine therapy uptake was assessed during follow-up. From March 2016 to October 2017, 151 patients were enrolled [median (range) age, 56.1 (36.0–76.4 years)]. Median 10-year and lifetime IBIS risks were 7.9% and 25.3%. Inclusion of PRS increased lifetime IBIS breast cancer risk estimates for 81 patients (53.6%) and reduced risk for 70 (46.4%). Of participants with increased breast cancer risk by PRS, 39 (41.9%) had greater intent to take endocrine therapy; of those with decreased breast cancer risk by PRS, 28 (46.7%) had less intent to take endocrine therapy (P < 0.001). On multivariable regression, increased breast cancer risk by PRS was associated with greater intent to take endocrine therapy (P < 0.001). Endocrine therapy uptake was greater among participants with increased breast cancer risk by PRS (53.4%) than with decreased risk (20.9%; P < 0.001). PRS testing influenced intent to take and endocrine therapy uptake. Assessing PRS effect on endocrine therapy adherence is needed. Prevention Relevance: Counseling women at increased breast cancer risk using polygenic risk score (PRS) risk estimates can significantly impact preventive endocrine therapy uptake. Further development of PRS testing to personalize breast cancer risk assessments and endocrine therapy counselling may serve to potentially reduce the incidence of breast cancer in the future.

Abstract Background: Parity reduces risk of late onset breast cancer (BC), but childbirth is associated with a transient rise in BC risk. In a prior analysis of normal breast tissues donated for research to the Komen Tissue Bank (KTB), we reported that numbers of lobules (the primary structures from which BCs arise) are increased among parous versus nulliparous women. To further define the histological features that may be related to the transient rise in post-partum BC risk, we performed an expanded histologic review of 757 breast tissues donated to the KTB by women ≤45 years of age and compared lobule number, acinar count per lobule, and abundance of immune cells, and specifically plasma cells, between nulliparous and parous women. Methods: We assessed digital scans of H&E stained tissue sections of KTB tissues for total number of lobules, and evaluated acini / lobule (ordinal categories) and lobule span (um) for ≤10 lobules per section. Masked to epidemiologic data, we subjectively assessed images including ≥5 lobules for the presence of benign breast disease (BBD), ≥3 plasma cells per section and increased immune cells in lobules. We compared parous women according to time since last birth (≤5 years or >5 years) to nulliparas (referent) using age-adjusted regression models appropriate for data type (count, continuous, ordinal, or categorical). Results: Compared to nulliparous women, parous women ≤5 years of a birth had a 1.83-fold increase in lobule counts (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.47-2.28, P<0.001), increased plasma cells in lobules (OR=1.86; 95% CI: 1.08-3.18, P<0.025), and subjectively, increased immune cells in lobules (OR=2.46, 95% CI: 1.39-4.36, P<0.002). Comparisons of parous women ≥5 years post-partum to nulliparas revealed a 1.83-fold increase in numbers of lobules (95% CI: 1.42-2.36, P<0.001); however, lobule span in parous women was 0.89 times that of nulliparous women (95% CI: 0.80-0.99, P=0.037) and other features assessed did not show statistically significant differences. Conclusion: Histologically, normal breast tissues reveal persistently increased lobule counts and increased plasma cells and inflammation for ≤5 years post-partum compared with nulliparous women, although other lobular features decrease between ≤5 and >5 years after a birth. Future molecular studies will define how these changes in the epithelium and microenvironment during the post-partum period may inform mechanisms that mediate the transient increase in BC risk after childbirth and the reduction in BC risk that occurs later in life. Citation Format: Joshua Ogony, DereK C. Radisky, Amy C. Degnim, Marlene Frost, Tanya L. Hoskin, Michael G. Heckman, Launia J. White, Mark E. Sherman. Analysis of post-partum breast tissue to understand early onset breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 4635.

Abstract Background: Biopsy diagnosis of benign breast disease (BBD) based on the most severe lesion in a sample predicts future breast cancer risk and has implications for screening and management. Lobules are the functional unit of the breast and the structures from which BBD arises. We developed and preliminarily validated an automated computational pathology algorithm to discriminate normal from BBD breast lobules as a step toward automated comprehensive characterization of benign biopsies. Methods: 152 BBD biopsies (27 training, 125 validation) from the Mayo Clinic were examined using scanned digital images of H&E stained sections. For each image, a pathologist annotated up to 10 representative lobules as normal or BBD using standard pathology criteria. A deep learning algorithm to quantify lobular features was developed using 129 lobules from 27 subjects. Nine features were identified that discriminate normal vs BBD lobules, expressing lobule size, acini size and number, acinar lumen size, proportion of lobular stroma, and capillaries. Here, we validate their performance to discriminate normal vs BBD lobules in a set of 1250 lobules from 125 subjects using area under the ROC curve (AUC) analysis. Random forest analysis was used for multivariable modeling; model performance was assessed with a tenfold cross-validation approach. Results: Median subject age was 52 years. Among the 125 validation subjects, BBD findings were nonproliferative in 39%, proliferative in 45%, and atypical hyperplasia in 16%. Sections included 552 (44%) normal lobules and 698 BBD (56%) lobules, with representation of both lobule types on each section. In univariate analyses, four individual features showed good discrimination between normal vs. BBD lobules, yielding the following AUCs: lobule size= 0.74, mean acini size= 0.75, epithelial area= 0.75, and number of acini with large lumens= 0.76. Lobule size and epithelial area were highly correlated (Spearman rank correlation r = 0.95), but both of these features showed lower correlation with mean acini size and number of acini with large lumens (each r < 0.5). With random forest modeling, number of acini with large lumens was the strongest discriminating feature, followed by mean acini size, lobule size, and epithelial area. With ten-fold cross validation of the multivariable random forest model, the overall AUC was 0.82 (95% CI: 0.79-0.85). Conclusion: Our validation showed that automated quantitative computational pathology assessment of breast lobules can discriminate normal versus BBD on a per lobule basis. This finding supports the feasibility of developing automated algorithms to classify every lesion in breast biopsies, expanding beyond visual assessment. Further studies using deep learning may reveal novel pathology features for classifying BBD biopsies with the potential to strengthen estimation of breast cancer risk. Citation Format: Amy C. Degnim, Thomas de Bel, Mark E. Sherman, Derek C. Radisky, Stacey J. Winham, Tanya L. Hoskin, Melody L. Stallings Mann, Marlene Frost, Robert A. Vierkant, Brendan T. Broderick, Ethan P. Heinzen, Rushin Brahmbhatt, Muhammad Arshad, Celine M. Vachon, Jodi M. Carter, Lori A. Denison, Daniel W. Visscher, Jeroen van der Laak. Discrimination of benign breast disease from normal lobules using an automated computational pathology algorithm [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 2113.

1061 Background: Benign breast disease (BBD) is a significant risk factor for breast cancer (BC); however little is known about the aggressiveness of the BCs these patients develop. Shared features between select atypias and low-grade DCIS have led some to speculate that a history of BBD portends the development of well-differentiated BCs. Methods: The Mayo BBD cohort includes 9,376 women who had benign breast biopsies from 1967–1991. Data on BC events were obtained from medical records and questionnaires. Tissue from the BCs was reviewed by a single breast pathologist (DWV). Results: Our cohort included 6,244 patients with nonproliferative disease (NP), 2,801 women with proliferative disease without atypia (PDWA), and 331 with atypical hyperplasias (AH). With a median of 18 years of follow-up, 799 patients with BBD have developed breast cancer, 416 initially had NP, 313 had PDWA, and 70 AH. BC tissue was available for 703 of the women. The cancers were invasive ductal in 76.1% (n = 535), invasive lobular in 9.4% (n = 66), and DCIS alone in 14.5% (n = 102) patients. Grade is currently available for 500 women, and is well differentiated in 29.4% (n = 150), moderately differentiated in 42.7% (n = 218) and poorly differentiated in 27.8% (n = 142). In 537 cases the malignant tissue had a concurrent benign component consisting of NP in 24% (n = 129), PDWA in 25.1% (n = 135), and AH in 50.8% (n = 273). In regards to tumor size, 69.6% had T1 tumors, 24.9% T2 tumors, and 5.5% T3 disease. Metastasis to lymph nodes occurred in 25% of patients. Median time to BC was 12.3 years and did not differ across the different benign entities. Breast cancer developed within 5 years from the initial BBD in 163 women (20%). In this group, tumor size was greater (p = 0.02), and there were more poorly differentiated tumors (p = 0.006) than in those who later developed BC. Conclusions: In the BCs that have developed in our BBD cohort, we do not see a preponderance of well-differentiated, good-risk BCs. Patients diagnosed within 5 years of BBD appear to have BCs with more aggressive features. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

Abstract Over one million women in the United States receive biopsy diagnoses of benign breast disease (BBD) each year, which confer a 1.5–4.0-fold increase in breast cancer risk. Studies in the general population suggest that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAID) lower breast cancer risk; however, associations among women with BBD are unknown. We assessed whether NSAID use among women diagnosed with BBD is associated with lower breast cancer risk. Participants included 3,080 women (mean age = 50.3 ± 13.5 years) in the Mayo BBD surgical biopsy cohort diagnosed between January 1, 1992 and December 31, 2001 who completed breast cancer risk factor questionnaires that assessed NSAID use, and whose biopsies underwent detailed pathology review, masked to outcome. Women were followed from date of BBD biopsy to breast cancer diagnosis (main outcome) or censoring (death, prophylactic mastectomy, reduction mammoplasty, lobular carcinoma in situ or last contact). Median follow-up time was 16.4 ± 6.0 years. Incident breast cancer was diagnosed among 312 women over a median follow-up of 9.9 years. Regular non-aspirin NSAID use was associated with lower breast cancer risk [HR = 0.63; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.46–0.85; P = 0.002] with trends of lower risk (highest tertiles of use vs. nonuse) for greater number of years used [HR = 0.55; 95% CI = 0.31–0.97; Ptrend = 0.003), days used per month (HR = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.33–0.80; Ptrend = 0.001) and lifetime number of doses taken (HR = 0.53; 95% CI = 0.31–0.89; Ptrend = 0.003). We conclude that nonaspirin NSAID use is associated with statistically significant lower breast cancer risk after a BBD biopsy, including a dose–response effect, suggesting a potential role for NSAIDs in breast cancer prevention among patients with BBD.

For patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), sentinel lymph node (SLN) surgery is generally reserved for patients at high risk of being upstaged to invasive disease. The use of frozen section (FS) pathologic analysis of the primary tumor may allow for selective surgical nodal staging within one procedure. We sought to define the reliability of FS for detection of upstaging. Eight hundred and twenty-seven patients were identified with DCIS on core needle biopsy that underwent 834 operations at our institution between January 2004 and October 2014. We calculated the rate of upstage from DCIS to invasive cancer on both intraoperative FS and final pathology to determine the performance of FS. Upstage rate on final pathology was 118/834 (14.1%) 95 per cent confidence interval 11.8 to 16.7 per cent. FS identified 88/118 (74.6%) of the upstages. Specificity was 99.3 per cent (711/716). Overall accuracy was 95.8 per cent (799/834) and the positive predictive value was 96.0 per cent (711/741 patients). Mean size of invasive cancers identifiedon FS was 5.6 mm, versus 3.5 mm for those identified only on permanent section, P = 0.11. Intraoperative FS analysis of DCIS is useful for identification of upstage to invasive disease. This may facilitate a selective approach to SLN surgery that both decreases unnecessary SLN surgery and the need for a second operation.

Abstract Background Prior epidemiologic studies have shown an inverse relationship of aspirin and NSAID use with breast cancer (BC) risk in the general population. Women with benign breast disease (BBD) are at an increased BC risk compared with women in the general population, and we have shown that BBD biopsies contain increased numbers of immune cells compared with normal breast tissues donated for research in the Komen Tissue Bank. We hypothesized that NSAID use among women with BBD is associated with reduced risk of BC. Methods We evaluated BC risk in relation to aspirin and NSAID use in a single institution retrospective cohort of 4,498 women who received a biopsy diagnosis of BBD between 1/1/1992 and 12/31/2001. Information on usual medication use, including average number of days used per month (0, 1-7, 8-28 and >28), was collected via questionnaires mailed after identification of participants. NSAIDs were categorized into three classes: 1) Aspirin, 2) Ibuprofen (plus other prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors), and 3) COX inhibitors. BC events were captured via medical record, questionnaires, and Tumor Registry records. Medication use was evaluated for associations with clinical and pathology features. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) examining associations between medication use and BC risk were estimated using Cox regression analyses, with adjustment for age and BMI at biopsy, years between biopsy and questionnaire, and pathologic features related to BC risk (severity of BBD and degree of involution in background lobules). Tests for trend examining frequency of use were calculated from ordered values (lowest to highest) in Cox models with a one degree-of-freedom linear term. We assessed BC associations with any type of NSAID use, as well as the three subclasses. Results Information on NSAID use was available for 3,089 (69%) of the participants in the cohort; these women had a median age of 49 and did not differ in BC risk from women who did not provide data on NSAID use (p=0.46). Of the 3,089 respondents, 313 (10.1%) subsequently developed BC with median follow-up of 17 years. Age was significantly associated with use of all types of NSAIDs, with increasing use in older women. BMI at the time of biopsy, severity of BBD findings, and involution in background lobules were also associated with NSAID use; thus these factors and age were adjusted for in risk association analyses. Ever users of NSAIDs (any type) had a significantly lower risk of BC than never users (HR 0.76, CI 0.59-0.98, p=0.03), and increasing frequency of NSAID use was significantly associated with lower BC risk (HRs 0.81, 0.79, and 0.70 for regular use 1-7, 8-28, and >28 days/month), trend p=0.02. Analyses of drug classes revealed that ever use of ibuprofen (HR 0.61, CI 0.42-0.89, p=0.01) and ever use of COX inhibitors (HR 0.59, CI 0.39-0.89, p=0.01) were associated with decreased BC risk. COX inhibitors in particular showed a strong dose response effect with increasing use (HRs 0.97, 0.52, and 0.47 for regular use 1-7, 8-28, and >28 days/month), trend p<0.01. Use of aspirin was not associated with BC risk (HR 0.88, CI 0.64-1.21, p=0.44). Conclusions In this exploratory analysis, we found use of ibuprofen and other NSAIDs to be associated with decreased BC risk among women who had undergone a BBD biopsy. These findings suggest that anti-inflammatory approaches may have value in chemoprevention among women with BBD. Citation Format: Amy Degnim, Robert Vierkant, Stacey Winham, Marlene Frost, Daniel Visscher, Jodi Carter, Suneetha Kaggal, Julie Cunningham, Teresa Allers, Tanya Hoskin, Ethan Heinzen, Celine Vachon, Keith Knutson, Keith Knutson, Derek Radisky, Mark Sherman. NSAID use and breast cancer risk in a retrospective cohort of women with benign breast disease [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-08-06.

10586 Background: Teschendorff et al. (Breast Cancer Res 2008) reported a 7-gene, immune response-enriched gene expression classifier using microarrays that was prognostic in women with ER-negative breast cancer. To facilitate further evaluation of the prognostic value of a classifier in archival fixed tumor tissue, we developed two multiplex TaqMan assays to quantify the expression levels of these genes, then trained and validated a 7-gene immune response score (IRS). Methods: RNA was extracted from FFPE sections of 185 ER-negative breast cancer patient samples from Mayo Clinic (n=81), Guy’s Hospital (n=50) and California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) (n=27). Patients (N+ and N-) did not receive adjuvant therapy and were followed for a minimum of 5 years. Amplification of i) LY9, TNFRSF17, HLA-F, and IGLC2 and ii) XCL2, SPP1, C1QA and two reference genes NUP214 and PPIG were carried out in two multiplex RT-PCR TaqMan reactions and relative expression levels were determined using the DDCT method. The training set, comprised of the Mayo Clinic samples, was used to develop an IRS by using a summation of expression levels of the 7 genes. Association of the IRS with distant metastasis was assessed using a Cox proportional hazards model. The score was subsequently tested in a validation set (Guy’s + CPMC). Results: The amplification efficiency of each gene within the multiplex reactions was comparable to singleplex reactions. Duplicate amplifications showed excellent assay reproducibility and sensitivity (R2=0.98). The hazard ratio for a single standard deviation decrease in the IRS was 1.45 (95% CI 0.99-2.12, p=0.056) in the training set and 2.18 (1.32-3.61, p=0.002) in the validation set. ROC curves of continuous IRS to predict distant metastasis within 5 years had AUC of 0.74, 95% CI = 0.60-0.88. Conclusions: Robust multiplex TaqMan assays for FFPE tissue extracted RNA were developed for a 7-gene IRS. Increases in risk are associated with decreases in the IRS. Immune related gene expression clearly plays an important role in the spectrum of risk of ER-negative tumors. Additional signatures are in development that further support this conclusion.