Hoskin, Tanya L.

Abstract Objective To evaluate the clinical value of breast MRI in radiation-associated angiosarcoma of the breast (RAASB) for assessing disease extent at diagnosis and after neoadjuvant therapy compared with clinical examination and surgical pathology. Methods This IRB-approved retrospective study included 25 patients with breast MRIs between1995 and 2020. MRI estimated disease extent was compared to clinical exam and surgical pathology. MRI findings were evaluated for additional disease and impact on clinical management. Agreement between MRI and clinical assessment of disease was evaluated using Cohen’s kappa statistic. Results Baseline MRI demonstrated moderate agreement with clinical disease extent (Cohen’s κ = 0.44; 95% CI, 0.14-0.75). Thirteen of 24 (54%) of MRIs reflected clinical exam, 4/24 (17%) MRIs underestimated disease, and 5/24 (21%) MRIs overestimated disease. Baseline MRI changed surgical management in 4/24 (17%). In 8 patients who proceeded directly to surgery, MRI reflected pathology in 6/8 (75%). In 10 patients with post-neoadjuvant MRI, 4/10 (40%) pathology and MRI extent were similar, 5/10 (50%) MRI overestimated disease, and 1/10 (10%) MRI underestimated disease. Conclusion MRI has clinical value in assessing RAASB with the potential for significantly altering surgical management. In this small cohort, post-neoadjuvant MRI demonstrated limited additional clinical value. Larger studies are needed to define the optimal role and timing of post-neoadjuvant MRI. Advances in knowledge Baseline MRI detected additional disease not identified on initial clinical exam in 5/24 (21%) and changed surgical management in 4/24 (17%). Although baseline MRI demonstrated moderate agreement with clinical examination, post-neoadjuvant MRI frequently overestimated residual disease when compared with final pathology.

560 Background: Patients (pts) with early stage hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HR+/HER2-) breast cancer (BC) remain at both short and long term risk of recurrence. While clinico-pathological and gene-based biomarkers provide insight into early and late recurrence risk, additional prognostic tools are needed. We previously developed (Saha et al. Clin Cancer Res , 2025) a new breast MRI image-based artificial intelligence prognostic tool (TumorSight Risk) composed of both radiographic and clinical information. Here we sought to validate this tool in an independent cohort. Methods: In this multi-center, blinded, prospective/retrospective validation study, we sought to validate the 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) according to pre-defined risk scores (0-100) and categories (“high” or “low”) via pre-specified cutoff (≥47) for pts with HR+/HER2- BC. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were then used to assess the unadjusted and adjusted association between risk category/score and the 5-year RFS. Results: 2,129 pts with HR+/HER2- BC diagnosed between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2024, who underwent breast MRI prior to surgery (no neoadjuvant therapy) were included from four institutions. Median age was 57 years, 16% were Black, 15% had grade 3 disease, 93% were clinical T1 or T2, and 85%/15% were clinical N0/N1. At a median follow up of 6.24 years, the unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) for RFS comparing low (n=1808) and high risk (n=321) pts was 2.71 (95% CI = 1.95 – 3.76, p = 3x10 -9 ). The estimated 5 year RFS rate according to risk score (low and high) was 95.5% (95% CI: 94.63 – 96.3%) and 89.6% (95% CI = 86.4 – 92.6%) while the 10 year RFS estimates were 88.9% (95% CI = 86.5 - 90.9%) and 69.6% (95% CI = 59.1 – 77.9%). Univariate subgroup analysis demonstrated that the risk score was prognostic by age (< 50 vs. ≥50 years), pathologic nodal status, grade, and surgery type, regardless of chemo-, endocrine, or radiation therapy administration. The observed continuous risk score was strongly associated with risk of recurrence, with a 22% increase in relative risk per 10-unit change in risk score (0-100), translating to a 2.4% (95% CI = 1.2 – 4.5%) and 25.5% (95% CI = 15.4 – 40.4%) risk of recurrence at 5-years for pts at the lowest (0-9) versus highest (90-100) risk score. The prognostic association between risk score and RFS remained after adjusting for pathologic T- and N-stage, grade, age, race, and treatment (p = 0.002). Conclusions: TumorSight Risk is a new image-based biomarker for HR+/HER2- BC that provides prognostic information independent of standard clinico-pathological parameters. Given the ready availability of breast MRI in most pts with BC, TumorSight Risk may be a convenient tool for estimating risk for recurrence.

545 Background: ILC is characterized by loss of E-cadherin expression, with distinct biological and clinical features, and is often perceived to be less sensitive to chemotherapy compared with IDC. Oncologists and pts may face a treatment dilemma regarding the benefits of adjuvant chemotherapy in pts with lower biologic risk but higher anatomic risk (N2/N3), stage III ILC. In this study, we sought to compare the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy in pN2/N3 ILC compared with IDC. Methods: We used the National Cancer Database (NCDB) to identify adults with primary, non-metastatic, ER-positive/HER2-negative invasive breast cancer diagnosed between 2010 and 2022 who underwent upfront surgery. Patients receiving neoadjuvant systemic therapy were excluded. Analyses were limited to pathologic stage I–III disease with known nodal involvement (N2–N3) and tumor category (T1–4). Propensity score matching (1:3, caliper 0.2; using R 4.5.1) was performed to balance age, sex, race, insurance status, grade, pathologic stage, nodal category, tumor category, Charlson-Deyo comorbidity score, and year of diagnosis. Overall survival (OS) was assessed using Kaplan–Meier methods and Cox proportional hazards models used to estimate hazard ratios (SPSS v28). Results: After propensity matching, we analyzed 28,115 pts with pN2/N3 disease (ILC 9,603 and IDC 18,512). Upstaging from cN0 to pN2/3 was higher for ILC than IDC (20.3% vs 13.3%, p<0.001). ILC pts were more likely to undergo mastectomy compared to IDC (80.2% vs 71.2%, p<0.001). Receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy for pN2/N3 disease was similar between IDC and ILC (78.0% vs 78.4%, p=0.37), as was use of adjuvant radiation and endocrine therapy. Among patients receiving chemotherapy, treatment was associated with a 65% reduction in death in ILC (HR 0.35, 95% CI 0.32–0.38, p<0.001) and a 73% reduction in IDC (HR 0.27, 95% CI 0.26–0.29, p<0.001), compared with no chemotherapy. 5-year OS among chemotherapy-treated patients was lower for ILC compared with IDC (HR 1.4, 95% CI 1.33-1.49; p<0.001, Table 1). In contrast, no OS difference was observed between ILC and IDC among patients who did not receive chemotherapy (HR 1.03, 95% CI 0.96-1.11; p=0.38). Chemotherapy was associated with higher 5-year OS in both IDC (87.7% vs 58.9%) and ILC (84.3% vs 59.2%). Conclusions: Adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with a substantial improvement in 5-year OS among patients with pN2/N3 disease in both IDC and ILC. Pts with ILC and extensive nodal involvement benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. 5-year survival of IDC and ILC. IDC (18,512) ILC (9,603) No Chemotherapy (4,078) Adjuvant Chemotherapy (14,434) No Chemotherapy (2,071) Adjuvant Chemotherapy (7,532) pN2 (18,669) 62.8% 90.1% 64.4% 87.6% pN3 (9,446) 48.3% 82.2% 51.4% 79.4% pN2/pN3 Combined (28,115) 58.9% 87.7% 59.2% 84.3% P <0.001, log rank.

525 Background: Adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET) decreases breast cancer (BC) recurrence and improves overall survival (OS) for patients (pts) with estrogen receptor positive (ER+) BC. Omission of adjuvant ET and nonadherence are major issues contributing to worse clinical outcomes. Recent data suggest that the number of pts who omit adjuvant ET may be increasing in Europe [1]. These data have yet to be evaluated in the U.S. We previously reported data from the National Cancer Database (NCDB) that ET omission was more likely in pts with ER+/HER2+ disease who achieved a pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) [2]. Herein we report an updated analysis with a larger cohort designed to examine trends in ET omission over time and the impact on OS in a group of pts at high risk of recurrence. Methods: The NCDB was queried from 2010-2022 for pts with stage I-III ER+BC treated with NAC and surgery. pCR was defined as ypT0, ypN0. Use of adjuvant ET and the impact of adjuvant ET omission on OS in pts with and without pCR were assessed separately based on HER2 status. Adjuvant ET initiation by 1 year was summarized using the cumulative incidence estimate to account for the competing risk of death. OS was analyzed with ET as a time-dependent covariate using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. Results: We identified 130,438 pts with ER+BC (78,778 ER+/HER2-, 51,660 ER+/HER2+) who received NAC. Median follow-up was 5 years. Overall, pCR was achieved in 10.0% of ER+/HER2- and 35.9% of ER+/HER2+. On multivariable analysis, ET omission was significantly associated with worse OS in pts with residual disease (RD) [ER+/HER2- (HR 1.80 p<0.001) ER+/HER2+ (HR 1.66 p<0.001] and in those with a pCR [ER+/HER2- (HR 1.38 p=0.002) ER+/HER2+ (HR 1.42 p<0.001)]. Between 2010-2017, adjuvant ET omission was stable, with approximately 10.0% of pts not having initiated ET by 1 year after surgery. The proportion of pts omitting ET overall increased thereafter to 12.9% in 2018, rising to 24.4% in 2022. A sharp increase in ET omission was observed 2021-2022 in ER+/HER2- BC who achieved pCR, with 42.4% omitting ET compared to 25.1% for 2018-2020 and 18.8% for 2010-2017 (p<0.001). Adjuvant ET omission showed more modest but significant increases for other subgroups (p<0.001): ER+/HER2- with RD (8.5% 2010-2017, 12.3% 2018-2020, 18.7% 2021-2022), ER+/HER2+ with pCR (15.1% 2010-2017, 14.0% 2018-2020, 24.4% 2021-2022), and ER+/HER2+ with RD (9.5% 2010-2017, 12.5% 2018-2020, 22.2% 2021-2022). Conclusions: In ER+BC treated with NAC, omission of ET is increasing over time and associated with a higher risk of death, regardless of HER2, RD, or pCR status. These findings have substantial public health implications as they may result in a reversal of the 4-decade improvements in breast cancer mortality. Additional intervention is critical to improve adherence to guidelines. [1] Verreck et al. Breast 2025 [2] Choong et al. SABCS 2022.

Abstract Background: The increasing volume and diversity of clinical genomic reports pose a significant challenge across healthcare institutions for the interpretation and proper implementation of precision oncology research. Reports from multiple different vendors (e.g., Invitae, Ambry Genetics, Foundation Medicine) are typically PDFs and exhibit substantial heterogeneity in panel design, gene coverage, and reporting standards, which hinders efficient retrospective data mining and patient cohort identification within the electronic medical records. We sought to develop a framework to interrogate all of these reports. Methods: We extracted genomic reports from patients with breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and developed MolHarmonizer, a novel, scalable framework leveraging Python and Gemini LLMs, designed to process and harmonize genomic data from disparate multi-vendor reports. Gemini LLMs are employed explicitly for robust information extraction, normalization, and structuring of key genomic features, transforming unstructured data into a unified, queryable dataset. Results: Our MolHarmonizer framework successfully processed 1,147 genomic reports from 1703 breast cancer patients (2006-2023) from 23 different companies, demonstrating robust capability to extract and standardize critical actionable biomarkers. Data sources included Invitae (n=554), Ambry Genetics (n=189), Natera (n=95), Mayo Clinic (n=88), Tempus (n=63), Guardant Health (n=47), and Foundation Medicine (n=37), with others contributing less than 20 reports. Of the samples, 827/1147 (72.1%) were germline (blood/saliva). A majority of the patients were tested using the panels due to a personal/family history (n=925). Overall, 413/1147 (36.0%) reports identified at least one mutation. For breast cancer, 75 reports showed BRCA1/2 mutations (37 BRCA1, 37 BRCA2, and one patient with both BRCA1 and 2). Other mutations identified included: PIK3CA (n=40), TP53 (n=96), PTEN (n=21), ESR1 (n=13) and AKT1/2 (n=8). Conclusion: MolHarmonizer, a powerful framework leveraging Gemini LLMs, effectively addresses genomic data heterogeneity by automating biomarker extraction and harmonization. This enables rapid cohort identification and deep retrospective analyses for clinical insights, biomarker discovery, understanding disease history, facilitating novel pattern discovery, e.g., predicting BRCA1 mutations from WSI, and accelerating research within our neoadjuvant BC cohort. Future plans include expanding to include over 20,000 breast cancer patients, developing a user-friendly chatbot, and ensuring inter-institutional adaptability for a variety of complex diseases. Citation Format: Krishna Rani Kalari, Xiaojia Tang, Thanmayee Boyapati, Tanya L. Hoskin, Sumathilatha Myla, Sumedha G. Penheiter, Richard M. Weinshilboum, Liewei Wang, Hamid R. Tizhoosh, Karthik Vikram Giridhar, Matthew P. Goetz, Judy C. Boughey. Development of an LLM framework for analysis of heterogeneous breast cancer patients genomic reports [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2026; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2026 Apr 17-22; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2026;86(7 Suppl):Abstract nr 2756.

(1) Background: Mammographic breast density (MBD) is a well-established predictor of breast cancer risk, yet the biological mechanisms underlying this association remain incompletely understood. MBD is characterized by alterations in breast stromal architecture, including increased collagen deposition and changes in immune cell composition. Given emerging evidence that the breast harbors a resident microbiome, we investigated whether the breast tissue microbiome correlates with MBD. (2) Methods: Adjacent normal breast tissue was collected under sterile conditions from 33 women undergoing surgery for benign or malignant breast disease. DNA was extracted and subjected to 16S rRNA gene sequencing (Illumina MiSeq). (3) Results: We observed a non-significant trend toward lower α-diversity in high-MBD samples compared to low-MBD samples, p = 0.13. β-Diversity analyses identified a modest association between MBD and microbial community composition (MiRKAT p = 0.049). A random forest-based model incorporating genus-level relative abundances improved prediction of MBD over clinical characteristics alone, identifying Corynebacterium (Actinobacteria) and other genera as key predictors. (4) Conclusions: Breast tissue microbial features vary with mammographic breast density, suggesting a potential association with density-associated breast cancer risk. These exploratory findings warrant validation in larger cohorts to better elucidate biological mechanisms and clinical relevance.

ABSTRACT Background and Objectives Neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy (NACI) for node‐positive breast cancer may induce immune cell activation in regional lymph nodes (LN), confounding post‐NACI imaging. Here we evaluated RECIST 1.1 criteria to predict post‐NACI pathologic LN status. Methods We studied patients with biopsy‐proven cN+ non‐distant metastatic breast cancer receiving NACI operated on 03/2020–09/2024 with both pre‐ and post‐NACI cross‐sectional imaging. Per RECIST 1.1, LN short axis diameter (SAD) was measured in target (defined as SAD ≥ 15 mm) and nontarget (SAD 10–14.9 mm) LNs. Groups were compared using Fisher′s exact test. Results 75 patients, median age 53 years, were studied: 61% cN1, 12% cN2, and 27% cN3. Baseline median number of imaging‐suspicious LN was 4 (IQR 2‐5). Post‐NACI, 64% had a nodal pathologic complete response (pCR/ypN0). 55% met RECIST 1.1 LN assessment criteria. 21 of 32 (66%) with an imaging CR (iCR) were ypN0, while 8 of 9 (89%) without an iCR were ypN0. Neither target ( p = 0.24) nor combined target/nontarget LN iCR ( p = 0.76) predicted ypN status. Nodal pCR rates were higher in those with ≤ 1 versus > 1 suspicious LN post‐NACI (71% vs. 42%, p = 0.03). Conclusions RECIST 1.1 criteria did not predict nodal pCR for NACI‐treated node‐positive breast cancer patients. Other post‐NACI imaging assessment strategies are needed.

529 Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is commonly administered to patients (pts) with estrogen receptor alpha (ER) negative (immunohistochemistry [IHC] 0%) and ER-low (IHC 1-10%) breast cancer (BC). For pts without pathological complete response (pCR), ER expression may differ between baseline and residual BC following NAC. We previously demonstrated adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET) omission in ER-low early-stage BC was associated with significantly worse overall survival (OS); however, this effect was restricted to pts with residual BC following NAC and those with higher baseline ER levels (IHC 6-10%) (Choong et al., ASCO 2024). Here, we assessed how often ER was expressed in residual invasive BC for pts treated with NAC for ER-negative and ER-low BC. Methods: Weidentified pts with pre-treatment (tx) ER-negative and ER-low (regardless of HER2 expression) stage I-III BC treated with NAC who underwent BC surgery at Mayo Clinic Rochester between 2009 and 2023. ER IHC was performed in a CAP/CLIA laboratory. We evaluated ER expression in residual invasive BC for pts without pCR. The percent of pts with a post-tx change in ER status was estimated and reported with 95% Wilson confidence intervals. Results: 955 pts (838 [88%] pre-tx ER-negative; 117 [12%] pre-tx ER-low) met inclusion criteria, of whom 69% had HER2-negative and 31% HER2-positive BC. The median age at diagnosis was 52 (range: 24-86). 496 (52%) had residual BC. Residual BC was more common in HER2-negative versus (vs) positive tumors (56% vs 42%, p < 0.001) but did not differ significantly by ER status (ER-negative 51% vs ER-low 57%, p = 0.22). Of those with residual BC, 277/496 (56%) had ER re-testing. Rates of ER re-testing did not vary for pre-tx ER-negative vs -low (57% vs 51%, p = 0.37) but were significantly lower for HER2-positive vs HER2-negative tumors (39% vs 62%, p < 0.001). Among those with post-tx testing, 31/277 (11%, 95% CI: 8-15%) had an increase in ER expression from pretreatment levels (defined as ER IHC < 1% to either 1-10% or > 10%; or ER IHC 1-10% to > 10%). In these 31 pts, the original NAC was for either TNBC (21/31; 68%) or HER2+ BC (10/31; 32%). In pts with pre-tx ER-negative BC, 27/243 (11%, 95% CI: 8-16%) had ER expression in the residual BC including 14/243 (6%, 95% CI: 3-9%) with ER > 10% and 13/243 (5%, 95% CI: 3-9%) with ER 1-10%. For pts with baseline ER-low BC, 4/34 (12%, 95% CI: 5-27%) had ER > 10% in the residual BC. Among the 31 pts where ER increased following NAC, 21/31 (68%) received adjuvant ET, including 17/18 if ER was > 10% in the residual disease and 4/13 in those with ER 1-10%. Conclusions: In pts treated with NAC for ER-negative or ER-low BC not achieving pCR, we identified higher ER expression in the residual breast cancer in > 10% of pts. Given that omission of ET in ER-low BC with residual cancer following NAC is associated with worse survival, repeat biomarker testing should be considered in those without pCR, and ET individualized according to ER expression.

Abstract Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide. Most cases occur in those without identifiable modifiable risk factors, highlighting critical gaps in our understanding of breast cancer biology including the influence of the gut microbiome. Here we studied the gut microbiome with shallow shotgun metagenomic sequencing from preoperative stool samples in a well-characterized clinical cohort of 131 women, median age 59 years, undergoing breast-conserving surgery for benign (n=23), high-risk (n=47), or malignant (n=61) breast disease. Taxonomic profiling was performed with Sourmasth 4.2.4 with GTDBv202 as reference database; functional profiling of metagenomic data employed HUMAnN 3.6 with identified gene families mapped to MetaCyc pathways. Differences in alpha diversity in terms of species richness were observed across diagnosis groups (benign, high-risk, malignant) and was lowest for high-risk lesions (p=0.031). Decreased alpha diversity was also associated with higher body mass index (BMI) (Shannon p=0.12, Inverse Simpson p=0.025). Significant beta diversity differences across diagnosis groups also were seen (Bray-Curtis p=0.044, Jaccard p=0.013) as were differences in association with BMI (Bray-Curtis, Jaccard, both p=0.002). No significant diversity differences associated with age, mammographic breast density or menopausal status were observed. Functional pathway profiling stratified by BMI showed a correlation between increasing BMI and greater relative abundance of genes in nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) biosynthesis, folate metabolism, and aromatic amino acid metabolism pathways (p=0.0279, 0.0667 and 0.0860, respectively) - pathways implicated in breast cancer detection, survival and prognosis. Cross-referencing our significantly (FDR &lt;5%) differentially abundant taxonomic findings with these functional pathway data identified enrichment of several Blautia species, linked to NAD biosynthesis via tryptophan metabolism, in patients with higher BMI. We also noted enrichment of Dorea formicigenerans, a species associated with increased breast cancer risk in obese women due to its pro-inflammatory effects, in individuals with a higher BMI. Here we report significant differences in gut microbiome diversity, taxonomy and functional pathway signals in association with BMI in women with breast disease. Differentially abundant species seen with rising BMI may contribute to functional pathways that drive increased breast cancer risk and may provide an actionable target for risk reduction independent of conventional risk reduction strategies. Citation Format: Jack W. Sample, Matteo Redaelli, Stephen Johnson, Tanya L. Hoskin, Marina R. Walther-Antonio, Jun Chen, Tina J. Hieken. Obesity alters cancer-related microbial pathways in women with benign and malignant breast disease [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2025; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2025 Apr 25-30; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2025;85(8_Suppl_1):Abstract nr 2213.