Hsu, Robert C.

Abstract Background: Hispanic/Latinx (HL) and African American (AA) breast cancer (BC) patients (pts) have increased prevalence of high-risk features such as incidence of BC at age <50 and estrogen receptor negativity. We previously showed that AA and HL had a lower fraction of neutrophils and M2 macrophages (Mɸ) despite higher percentage of PD-L1 positive cases. This study aims to further characterize differences in the tumor immune microenvironment between racial and ethnic groups, with a focus on how these differences vary by site of biopsy. Methods: We analyzed 19,459 BC samples tested by NGS (592, NextSeq; WES, NovaSeq) and WTS (NovaSeq; Caris Life Sciences). Race/ethnicity data were self-reported by pts. Immune cell proportions were estimated using WTS deconvolution (Quantiseq). Gene expression was analyzed for T-cell inflammed score (TIS), MAPK Activation Score (MPAS) and interferon-gamma (IFNy) score. Real-world overall survival (OS) data were derived from insurance claims, calculated from tissue collection or treatment initiation to last contact, and analyzed using Kaplan-Meier. Statistical significance was assessed by chi-square and Mann-Whitney U test with p-values adjusted for multiple comparisons (q<0.05). Results: There were 9674 Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW) (primary BC, defined as biopsy (bx) from breast) pBC: n=3,537, 36.6%; (metastatic BC, defined as biopsy outside of the breast) mBC: n=6,137 63.4%, 1800 AA (pBC: n=750, 42%, mBC: n=1,050, 58%), and 1795 HL (pBC: n=842, 47%; mBC n=953, 53%) samples. There were 2364 TNBC (66% NHW, 19% NHB, 15% HL), 4318 HR+/HER2- (76% NHW, 11.6% NHB, 12.4% HL), and 893 HER2+ (68% NHW, 15% NHB, 17% HL). In pBC overall, AA had lower median cell fraction (%) of B cells (4.8% vs 5.3%), M2 Mɸ (3.4% vs 4.4%), but higher median cell fraction of dendritic cells (DC) (2.8% vs 2.6%) compared to NHW while HL had lower median cell fraction of M2 Mɸ (3.9% vs 4.4%) and higher median cell fraction of CD8+ T cell (0.4% vs 0.2%), all q<0.05. In pBC, HL had higher IFNy score (-0.3 vs -0.34), while AA had lower MPAS (-1.2 vs -0.96), all q<0.05. In lymph node bx, AA had lower median % of M2 Mɸ (3.4% vs 4.4%, q<0.05). No significant differences were seen in the liver bx by race but notably there were lower median cell fractions of CD4+, CD8+, and regulatory T cells (0.0 across NHW, AA, HL) across all race/ethnicities vs. other biopsy sites. By subtype, TNBC primary bx yielded much of the significant changes with AA having lower median cell fraction of M2 Mɸ (2.49% vs 3.04%, q= 0.01) compared to NHW. In primary bx, AA (35.6 m vs 48.5 m, HR 1.4, 95% CI 1.2-1.5, p<0.001) and HL (42.4 m vs 48.5 m, HR 1.2, 95% CI 1.1-1.4, p<0.001) had worse median OS versus NHW. In lymph node bx, AA also had worse OS (29.2 m vs 37.2 m, HR 1.2, 95% CI 1-1.5, p=0.03) compared to NHW. In liver bx, there was worse mOS overall but no difference by race (NHW 18.65m, AA 18.79m, HL 20.6m, p =0.73). In HR+/HER2- liver bx AA had worse OS (14.2 m vs 20.9 m, HR 1.3, 95% CI 1-1.7, p=0.03) versus NHW. In HER2+ primary bx, HL had worse OS (43.2m vs 66.9m, HR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1-2.6, p=0.009). There was a trend towards worse mOS in TNBC AA patients receiving pembrolizumab (18.42m vs HL 23.69m vs NHW 35.30m; p=0.16) and HER2+ AA patients receiving trastuzumab deruxtecan (AA: 16.06m vs HL: 26.81m vs NHW: not reached; p = 0.05). Conclusions: We found race and biopsy site specific differences in the breast cancer immune microenvironment. AA pts had lower M2 Mɸ in primary and lymph node bx while NHW pts showed higher CD8+ T cell in primary tumors. Liver biopsies exhibited low T cell infiltration across all groups. AA pts had worse mOS in primary and lymph node bx compared to NHW but not in liver bx of which we saw worse mOS in all races. These results highlight the need to consider both race and bx site in treatment decisions. Citation Format: R. Hsu, S. Deshmukh, N. Gyabaah-Kessie, E. Rallos, B. Al-Zubeidy, E. Gonzalez, A. G. Baugh, S. Carrel, M. Li, D. Zavala, A. Martynova, P. Jayachandran, D. Stewart, D. Spicer, S. Wu, J. Xiu, G. W. Sledge Jr., R. L. Mahtani, A. C. Sandoval Leon, S. Gandhi, S. Chumsri, M. Lustberg, M. C. Stern, E. T. Roussos Torres. Immune microenvironment and survival differences among Hispanic and African American breast cancer cases by biopsy site [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium 2025; 2025 Dec 9-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2026;32(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS3-12-06.

1051 Background: Hispanics or Latinos (HL) and African Americans or Black (AA) have a higher prevalence of advanced-stage breast cancer (BC) at diagnosis compared to Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW). To understand the role of immune system, we evaluated the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) by race/ethnicity among HL, AA, and NHW BC patients. Methods: 15544BC samples were tested by NGS (592, NextSeq; WES, NovaSeq) and WTS (NovaSeq; Caris Life Sciences, Phoenix, AZ). Race/ethnicity data is self-reported. Immune cell were estimated using WTS deconvolution (Quantiseq). Gene expression profiles were analyzed for T-cell inflammation score (TIS) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) score. Real-world overall survival (OS) was obtained from insurance claims and calculated from date of tumor biopsy to last contact using Kaplan-Meier estimates. Statistical significance was determined by chi-square and Mann-Whitney U test with p -values adjusted for multiple comparisons (q < .05). Results: 7170 NHW (35.3%, N = 2528) biopsied (bx) from primary breast cancer (pBC), 64.7% (N = 4642) metastatic bx (mBC), 1,508 AA (pBC 39.3% N = 592, mBC 60.7% N = 916), and 1,754 HL (pBC 44.1% N = 774, mBC 55.9% N = 980) cases were included. By subtype, there were 1,956 (60.4% NHW, 20.7% NHB, 18.9% HL) TNBC, 3425 HR+/HER2- (72.6% NHW, 11.9% NHB, 15.6% HL), and 694 HER2+ (64.6% NHW, 15.7% NHB, 19.7% HL). Across all cases, AA (20.5%) and HL (20.4%) had greater incidence (%) of PD-L1+ cases versus (vs) NHW (17.4%), all q < .05. TMB-High (³10 mut/Mb) was similar in NHW (11.5%), AA (10.8%), and HL (10.9%). AA tumors had lower median % cell infiltration of M2-like macrophages (M2 Mφ), B cells, and neutrophils vs NHW (Table). HL had a lower fraction of M2 Mφ and higher CD8+ T cells (Table). AA had lower TIS (-8 vs 1, p = .02) while HL had lower IFN-gamma (-0.38 vs. -0.35, q < .05) vs NHW. By subtype, AA had lower neutrophils (4% vs 4.3%) and increased DC fractions (3.1% vs 2.8%) in TNBC vs NHW, all q < .05; no significant changes seen in HL vs NHW. AA had worse mOS than NHW overall (31.8 vs 36.8 months (mo)), HR 1.1, 95% CI 1 – 1.2, p = < .01), in pBC (40.3 vs 49.9 mo, HR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1 – 1.5, p = < .01), but not mBC (27.4 vs 29.1 mo, HR 1, p = 0.2). HL had similar mOS vs NHW overall (37.4 vs 36.8 mo, HR 0.9, p = 0.9) and in mBC (29.1 vs 31 mo, HR 0.96, p = 0.4), but worse mOS in pBC (44.7 vs 50.0 mo, HR 1.1, 95% CI 1 – 1.3, p = .01). Conclusions: Our study shows worse mOS in AA and HL pBC cases vs NHW, possibly from a less inflamed TIME in AA and HL and lower fraction of neutrophils and M2 Mφ despite higher % of PD-L1+. Targeting Mφ and CD8+ T cells and converting cold to hot TIME may lessen race/ethnic disparities, especially in early-stage BC. Immune cell fraction of NHW, AA and HL BC. NHW (median %) AA (median %) HL (median %) q-valueNHW vs AA q-value NHW vs HL B cell 5.2 4.8 5.0 <.05 0.7 DC 2.6 2.7 2.6 0.08 0.4 M1 Mφ 2.5 2.4 2.4 0.4 0.9 M2 Mφ 4.6 3.7 4.2 <.05 <.05 Neutrophils 3.7 3.5 3.4 <.05 <.05 NK cell 2.9 2.9 2.9 0.7 0.6 CD8+ T cell 0.1 0.15 0.26 0.8 <.05 Treg 1.5 1.5 1.6 0.6 <.05