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Objective To evaluate how many patients could have undergone partial nephrectomy ( PN ) rather than radical nephrectomy ( RN ) before and after neoadjuvant axitinib therapy, as assessed by five independent urological oncologists, and to study the variability of inter‐observer agreement. Patients and Methods Pre‐ and post‐systemic treatment computed tomography scans from 22 patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma in a phase II neoadjuvant axitinib trial were reviewed by five independent urological oncologists. R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry score and κ statistics were calculated. Results The median R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry score changed from 11 before treatment to 10 after treatment ( P = 0.002). Five tumours with moderate complexity before axitinib treatment remained moderate complexity after treatment. Of 17 tumours with high complexity before axitinib treatment, three became moderate complexity after treatment. The overall κ statistic was 0.611. Moderate‐complexity κ was 0.611 vs a high‐complexity κ of 0.428. Before axitinib treatment the κ was 0.550 vs 0.609 after treatment. After treatment with axitinib, all five reviewers agreed that only five patients required RN (instead of eight before treatment) and that 10 patients could now undergo PN (instead of three before treatment). The odds of PN feasibility were 22.8‐times higher after treatment with axitinib. Conclusions There is considerable variability in inter‐observer agreement on the feasibility of PN in patients treated with neoadjuvant targeted therapy. Although more patients were candidates for PN after neoadjuvant axitinib therapy, it remains difficult to identify these patients a priori .

Background Disability, mortality and healthcare burden from fractures in older people is a growing problem worldwide. Observational studies suggest that aspirin may reduce fracture risk. While these studies provide room for optimism, randomised controlled trials are needed. This paper describes the rationale and design of the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE)-Fracture substudy, which aims to determine whether daily low-dose aspirin decreases fracture risk in healthy older people. Methods ASPREE is a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled primary prevention trial designed to assess whether daily active treatment using low-dose aspirin extends the duration of disability-free and dementia-free life in 19 000 healthy older people recruited from Australian and US community settings. This substudy extends the ASPREE trial data collection to determine the effect of daily low-dose aspirin on fracture and fall-related hospital presentation risk in the 16 500 ASPREE participants aged ≥70 years recruited in Australia. The intervention is a once daily dose of enteric-coated aspirin (100 mg) versus a matching placebo, randomised on a 1:1 basis. The primary outcome for this substudy is the occurrence of any fracture—vertebral, hip and non-vert-non-hip—occurring post randomisation. Fall-related hospital presentations are a secondary outcome. Discussion This substudy will determine whether a widely available, simple and inexpensive health intervention—aspirin—reduces the risk of fractures in older Australians. If it is demonstrated to safely reduce the risk of fractures and serious falls, it is possible that aspirin might provide a means of fracture prevention. Trial registration number The protocol for this substudy is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12615000347561).

Altered myocardial structure and function, secondary to chronically elevated blood pressure, are leading causes of heart failure and death. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), a guanylyl cyclase A agonist, is a cardiac hormone integral to cardiovascular regulation. Studies have demonstrated a causal relationship between reduced production or impaired BNP release and the development of human hypertension. However, the consequences of BNP insufficiency on blood pressure and hypertension-associated complications remain poorly understood. Therefore, the goal of this study was to create and characterize a novel model of BNP deficiency to investigate the effects of BNP absence on cardiac and renal structure, function, and survival. Genetic BNP deletion was generated in Dahl salt-sensitive rats. Compared with age-matched controls, BNP knockout rats demonstrated adult-onset hypertension. Increased left ventricular mass with hypertrophy and substantially augmented hypertrophy signaling pathway genes, developed in young adult knockout rats, which preceded hypertension. Prolonged hypertension led to increased cardiac stiffness, cardiac fibrosis, and thrombi formation. Significant elongation of the QT interval was detected at 9 months in knockout rats. Progressive nephropathy was also noted with proteinuria, fibrosis, and glomerular alterations in BNP knockout rats. End-organ damage contributed to a significant decline in overall survival. Systemic BNP overexpression reversed the phenotype of genetic BNP deletion. Our results demonstrate the critical role of BNP defect in the development of systemic hypertension and associated end-organ damage in adulthood.

Abstract Introduction: Triple negative breast cancers (TNBC) are characterized as lacking estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) expression and TNBC patients have higher rates of recurrence and death compared with other breast cancer subtypes. For TNBC patients who fail standard chemotherapy, there are a lack of novel drug therapies, given the absence of well-defined molecular targets. Recently, a microarray meta-analysis identified 7 triple negative subtypes, including the validation of the luminal androgen receptor (LAR) positive subtype [Lehmann, 2011]. However, microarray technology is dependent on probe-target specificity and the 7 subtypes have yet to be validated using RNA sequencing data, and the presences of recurrent genomic alterations in the 7 subtypes are unknown. METHODS: We obtained 1106 breast cancer RNA-Seq bam files from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and aligned with Tophat v1.3. The PAM50 intrinsic gene signature was used to extract a cohort of 128 TNBC samples. Consensus clustering of genes, greater than 75th percentile of variance, was performed using Kmeans clustering in Spearman's correlation space. A nearest centroid prediction model was developed from genes differentially expressed among the clusters. Eighty independent TNBC RNA sequencing samples were obtained (British Colombia; BC) [Shah, 2012] which were calibrated to our TNBC conditional quantile normalized cohort and sub-typed by our model. RESULTS: Using RNA-Seq gene expression count data, we identified 5 clusters, all of which were stable, including the LAR cluster. Signaling pathway impact analysis (SPIA) implicated cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, leukocyte transendothelial migration, and regulation of actin cytoskeleton pathways commonly altered in the non-LAR TNBC subtypes. In contrast, cell cycle, ECM-receptor interaction, endocrine regulated calcium reabsorption, and insulin signaling pathways were altered in the LAR versus non-LAR subtypes. Neuroactive ligand-receptor interactions were observed to be altered commonly between all sub-types. We then applied our model to the Shah, et al cohort. In this cohort, the LAR subtype was consistent with Shah's classification of ‘other’ TNBC and contained no basal samples by PAM50 intrinsic modeling. Analysis of sub-type specific mutation data from the BC cohort demonstrates an increased mutational load in ECM-related proteins, particularly the myosins, along with increased TP53 clonality in the non-LAR subtypes. CONCLUSIONS: Using TCGA RNASeq data, we have confirmed the presence of 5 major TNBC subtypes, including the LAR; which was negligible in basal composition by PAM50 intrinsic modeling. SPIA pathway analysis indicates a core set of pathways demonstrating altered expression across the TNBC sub-types and the identification of molecular targets within each subtype is ongoing. Citation Format: Kevin J. Thompson, Xiaojia Tang, Zhifu Sun, Jason P. Sinnwell, Hugues Sicotte, Douglas W. Mahoney, Steven Hart, Peter T. Vedell, Poulami Barman, Jeanette E. Eckel Passow, Eric D. Wieben, James N. Ingle, Judy C. Boughey, Liewei Wang, Richard Weinshilboum, Krishna R. Kalari, Matthew P. Goetz. Molecular classification of triple negative breast cancer via RNA-sequencing data. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 5592. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-5592

Abstract INTRODUCTION Next generation sequencing (NGS) of patients has significantly changed our ways to study cancer genomics as it provides precise estimates of gene expression, fusion transcripts, expressed single nucleotide variants (eSNVs), splice variants and copy number variants. The Breast Cancer Genome Guided Therapy (BEAUTY) is an ongoing clinical study in which RNA sequencing (RNAseq) and whole exome sequencing (WES) are performed prior to, during and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Here we report the use of these sequencing technologies to investigate gene expression levels and mutational profiles in a triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patient enrolled in BEAUTY whose disease did not respond to neoadjuvant paclitaxel and anthracycline/cycphosphamide. METHODS Computational approaches were used to integrate WES and RNAseq data obtained before therapy (V1T), after 12 weekly paclitaxel treatments (V2T) and after anthracycline-based regimen at surgical resection (V3T) to study a single patient with persistent TNBC disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. RESULTS Using RNA-Seq data, we identified an inter-chromosomal fusion transcript between chromosome 20 and 22 (GNAS-TTC38) that was highly expressed at V1T, V2T and V3T. We also identified intra-chromosomal fusion transcripts that were expressed at two time points, such as fusion transcript (KANSL1-ARL17A) on chromosome 17 for V1T and V2T and fusion transcript (RBM12B-LINC00535) on chromosome 8 for V2T and V3T time points. Several gene expression changes were also observed. Gene expression analysis of V1T, V2T and V3T tumors was performed. Differential temporal gene expression profiles of 9884 genes that were significant and varying at different time points were obtained for pathway analysis. Pathway analysis of 9884 genes identified up regulation and down regulation of several transcription factors with a fold change of 2x or more. When compared to blood, DNA tumor and RNA-Seq data, we identified 81 common somatic eSNVs that were expressed in both V1T and V2T time points and we are in the process of investigating V3T data. We found alterations of key transporter domains (CD225, Coatamer_beta_C, DUF2435, Dynamitin, EI24, GLTP, LMF1, Porin_3, V-ATPase_C) in our V1T and V2T SNV data. Similar to gene expression analysis, we are in the process of obtaining the list of mutations at various time points to identify driver and passenger mutation candidate genes for this specific TNBC patient. CONCLUSIONS Our initial time-series analysis of eSNV, fusion transcripts and gene expression data demonstrate that intensive analysis for individual patients is feasible. Further investigation of drug transporters and transcription regulators may help develop personalized treatment strategies for patients with disease resistant to current regimens. Citation Format: Krishna R. Kalari, Xiaojia Tang, Kevin J. Thompson, Douglas W. Mahoney, Poulami Barman, Jason P. Sinnwell, Hugues Sicotte, Peter Vedell, Steven N. Hart, Travis J. Dockter, Katie N. Jones, Amy L. Conners, Ann M. Moyer, Daniel W. Visscher, Jia Yu, Bowen Gao, Sarah A. McLaughlin, John A. Copland, Alvaro Moreno-Aspitia, Donald W. Northfelt, Richard J. Gray, Vera J. Suman, Jeanette E. Eckel Passow, Jean-Pierre A. Kocher, Eric D. Wieben, Gianrico Farrugia, Cloann G. Schultz, James N. Ingle, Richard Weinshilboum, Matthew P. Goetz, Liewei Wang, Judy C. Boughey. Analysis of sequencing data to identify potential drug targets for an individual newly diagnosed with basal breast cancer who failed to respond to current standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 4185. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-4185

Abstract Background: Extranodal follicular dendritic cell sarcoma (FDCS) is an exceedingly rare tumor type that is limited to few cases in the literature. Given the rarity of this tumor, there is a lack of genetic understanding of this disease resulting in a non-individualized plan of care for patients with this disease. Herein, we are the first to describe extensively molecularly the DNA and RNA of this tumor. Methods: Under an IRB approved protocol, the patient's tumor and whole blood was freshly frozen for molecular analysis. We performed Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) genomic profiling including exome capture, mate pair and mRNA sequencing on this tumor. Exome and mRNA data were processed through Mayo's Bioinformatics Core standard pipelines, GENOME GPS 1.2.1 and MAPRSeq v1.2.1. Mutations and indels were prioritized depending on whether or not they belonged to known cancer associated genes. Copy number variations (CNVs) in Exome and Mate Pair data was found through PatternCNV v 1.0.1 and fusion transcripts were found using SNOWSHOES-FTD and Tophat-Fusion 2.0.6. Results: At the genomic level large scale genomic rearrangements were detected, including chr19 and chr20 trisomy, chr15q and chr17q segmental duplications result in two intra-chromosomal fusion genes, and translocations leading to four inter-chromosomal fusion genes between chr15 and chr17. Of particular interest is a stop codon gain in the CLTC1 (chr22) gene, which is involved in the mitotic spindle organization which has been associated with meningiomas and breast tumorigenesis. The new stop codon is before the site required for the recruitment of the proteins to the spindle. The large scale genomic rearrangement described above is consistent with this defective spindle assembly hypothesis. Another intriguing mutation detected in the VEGFR1 (chr13) gene leads to a 45% mis-spliced transcript. VEGFR1 is thought to modulate VEGFR2 which plays an essential role in angiogenesis, by acting as a decoy receptor. Therefore the loss of function of VEGFR1 might lead to hyper-activity of VEGFR2 pathway and a potential therapeutic strategy is to directly inhibit the VEGFR2 pathway. Furthermore missense mutations in the ATM (chr11) and TP53 (chr17) genes were found. PARP inhibitors have been used with success for cancer with defects in the ATM gene. Finally a novel fusion transcript of HDGRFP3 (chr15) and SHC4 (chr15) was identified. Such fusion results in an overexpressed SHC4 gene which has been associated with metastatic melanomas. Conclusions: In summary, genomic profiling of a rare thyroid FDCS identified drug targetable genes as well as changes related to tumor etiology. Future work is necessary to determine the functional significance of these molecular findings and whether they will predict benefit to targeted therapies. Citation Format: Jaime I. Davila, Jason Starr, Steven Attia, Chen Wang, Xue Wang, Brian Necela, Casler John, David Menke, Vivek Sarangi, Gavin Oliver, Richard Joseph, John Copland, Alexander Parker, E. Aubrey Thompson, Robert Smallridge, Yan W. Asmann. Extensive genomic profiling of a rare extranodal-follicular dendritic cell sarcoma: Implications for future individualized therapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1894. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1894

Abstract Background Cancer genomic investigations have identified recurrent genomic aberrations critical for cancer initiation, progression, and metastases. However, these investigations are typically performed in isolation, and the effects of treatment on the clonal selection of tumor cells are mostly unknown. We hypothesized that molecular profiling of residual tumors after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) would identify new drug targets/pathways in patients at high risk for disease recurrence. To better identify clonal populations of resistant breast cancer cells, we utilized DNA content-based flow sorting of nuclei to identify and isolate clonal populations for aCGH and next generation sequencing (NGS) both before and after NAC. Methods The Breast Cancer Genome Guided Therapy Study (BEAUTY) (NCT 02022202) is a prospective study of patients with high-risk breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant 12 weekly paclitaxel (T) +/- trastuzumab followed by 4 cycles of anthracycline based chemotherapy. Tumor tissue from baseline, residual disease from surgery, distant metastases, and patient derived xenografts (PDX) are obtained for cell sorting by DNA ploidy, aCGH, RNA and exome sequencing. Results: 140 patients have been enrolled, 104 have completed surgery and 30 unique PDX have been established corresponding to 26 patients prior to chemotherapy and 4 from residual disease at surgery. Baseline exome and RNA sequencing is complete in 140. Currently, genomic analyses of flow sorted matched baseline, surgical, PDX, and distant disease samples are available in 6 patients. Substantial genomic variation was observed in the surgical sample compared to the primary tumor including gain of oncogenic drivers (EGFR) and loss of negative regulators (ATG5) (Table). The PDX recapitulated these events with excellent fidelity compared to the corresponding human tumor. In patients with TNBC, RNA seq obained from matched samples demonstrated changes in immune related pathways. Evaluation of drug targets/pathways identified in the resistant tumors are ongoing using the PDX and sequencing of the remaining matched baseline/surgical disease will be reported. Clonal changes occurring over time in patients with residual disease or disease recurrence after NACTumor SubtypeResidual Cancer BurdenDisease StatusClonal Aberration Changes (baseline and post NAC)TNBC (AR subtype)3Contralateral lymph node recurrence at 150 days2p25.2 - p25.1 amplicon lost at recurrence; 6p21.32 -p21.31 amplicon lost at recurrenceTNBC (BL 1)3Bone/liver/lymph node recurrence at 135 days5q11.2 amplicon gained at surgery; 12p13.33 - p13.2 amplicon gained at surgeryTNBC (BL 1)3Disease-free at day 1506q21 amplicon lost at sugeryTNBC (BL 2)0Brain recurrence at 390 daysChr 2 chromothripsis at surgeryLuminal B3Progression during chemotherapy7p12.1 - p11.2 amplicon gained at surgeryLuminal HER23Disease-free at day 3609q33.2 amplicon lost at surgery; 15q13.1 - q13.3 amplicon lost at surgery; 15q22.2 - q24.1 amplicon lost at surgery Conclusions: We observed substantial evolutionary changes in residual breast tumors remaining after NAC. Our findings suggest that a comprehensive assessment of the mutational landscape that has evolved during NAC can inform drug development in high risk breast cancer patients. Citation Format: Matthew P Goetz, Michael T Barrett, Krishna R Kalari, Vera J Suman, Sarah A McLaughlin, Alvaro Moreno-Aspitia, Ann M Moyer, Donald W Northfelt, Richard J Gray, Jason Sinnwell, Douglas Mahoney, Poulami Barman, Peter Vedell, Xiaojia Tang, Kevin Thompson, Travis Dockter, Katie Jones, Sara J Felten, Amy Conners, Jeanette Eckel-Passow, Hughes Sicotte, Steven N Hart, Jia Yu, Daniel W Visscher, Eric D Wieben, Cloann Schultz, Minetta C Liu, James N Ingle, Liewei Wang, Richard W Weinshilboum, Judy C Boughey. Impact of neoadjuvant chemotherapy on the clonal composition of breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PD3-3.

Abstract INTRODUCTION Patient derived xenografts (PDX) may better reflect individual patient (pt) tumor biology; however, the feasibility of collecting PDX from percutaneous tumor biopsies (PTB) in the neoadjuvant setting is unknown. Furthermore, drug response phenotypes observed in PDX have not been prospectively compared to the corresponding pt clinical outcomes. METHODS The Breast Cancer Genome Guided Therapy Study (BEAUTY) is a prospective Mayo study of pts with high-risk breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant weekly paclitaxel (T) +/- trastuzumab followed by anthracycline based chemotherapy. PTB (at baseline) and residual surgical tissue (after all chemotherapy) are obtained for next generation sequencing (NGS) and PDX. Tumor biopsies (1-2 cores from 14 gauge needle) were implanted with Matrigel <1 hour of collection in the flanks of NOD-SCID or NSG mice. Low dose estradiol was supplemented in the drinking water. Primary outgrowth rate was defined as PDX tumor volume >50 mm3. Take rate was defined as development of at least 1 stably transplantable xenograft line/pt. To determine whether clinical T response assessed by MRI corresponded with in vivo T response, pretreatment PDX from 5 pts were injected into NOD-SCID mice (20 mice per pt PDX) and when tumors reached 100-200mm3, mice were randomized to no treatment vs T (20 mg/kg, ip. every 3-4 days). Two of these 5 patients had a MRI response defined as >30% decrease in longest lesion. RESULTS Pretreatment PTB from 81 unique pts were implanted in 251 mice (2-4 mice/pt). PDX outgrowth rates were 33.3% (27/81 pts) and 22 stable PDX were established (overall take rate 27.2%). Take rates were as follows: triple negative breast cancer (46%; 13/28); HER2 (27%; 6/22), Luminal B (13%; 3/22), and luminal A (0%; 0/9). Residual surgical tumor (after all treatment) from 17 pts was injected into 85 mice (average 5 mice/pt) and the initial outgrowth rate was 23% (4/17) with 3 stably transplantable lines established. PDX, derived from pretreatment PTB of 5 pts (2 responders and 3 non-responders), were assessed for in vivo T response. The size of the T treated group was significantly smaller than the no treatment group for the PDX derived from the 2 clinical responders, with complete disappearance of tumor by 18 days. In contrast, the PDX derived from the 3 clinical non-responders had no evidence for T response. CONCLUSIONS We have demonstrated the feasibility of using PTB to establish PDX in a prospective neoadjuvant clinical study and have demonstrated similar T drug response phenotypes in in the PDX as seen in the corresponding pt. These data suggest that PDX generated prospectively may be useful for biomarker validation and the development and individualization of new drug therapy. Funded by the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine and the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center Citation Format: Jia Yu, Ping Yin, Bowen Gao, Jason P. Sinnwell, Ann M. Moyer, Daniel W. Visscher, Amy L. Conners, Travis J. Dockter, Krishna R. Kalari, Xiaojia Tang, Kevin J. Thompson, Hugues Sicotte, Douglas W. Mahoney, Steven N. Hart, Peter T. Vedell, Poulami Barman, Katie N. Jones, Sarah A. McLaughlin, John A. Copland, Alvaro Moreno Aspitia, Donald W. Northfelt, Richard J. Gray, Vera J. Suman, Jeanette E. Eckel Passow, Eric D. Wieben, James N. Ingle, Zhenkun Lou, Gianrico Farrugia, Richard Weinshilboum, Matthew P. Goetz, Judy C. Boughey, Liewei Wang. Feasibility of using percutaneous tumor biopsies from a prospective neoadjuvant breast cancer study to develop patient derived xenografts and assess in vivo chemotherapy sensitivity. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1195. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1195

The Brahma (BRM) and Brahma‐related Gene 1 (BRG1) ATPases are highly conserved homologs that catalyze the chromatin remodeling functions of the multi‐subunit human SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling enzymes in a mutually exclusive manner. SWI/SNF enzyme subunits are mutated or missing in many cancer types, but are overexpressed without apparent mutation in other cancers. Here, we report that both BRG1 and BRM are overexpressed in most primary breast cancers independent of the tumor's receptor status. Knockdown of either ATPase in a triple negative breast cancer cell line reduced tumor formation in vivo and cell proliferation in vitro. Fewer cells in S phase and an extended cell cycle progression time were observed without any indication of apoptosis, senescence, or alterations in migration or attachment properties. Combined knockdown of BRM and BRG1 showed additive effects in the reduction of cell proliferation and time required for completion of cell cycle, suggesting that these enzymes promote cell cycle progression through independent mechanisms. Knockout of BRG1 or BRM using CRISPR/Cas9 technology resulted in the loss of viability, consistent with a requirement for both enzymes in triple negative breast cancer cells. J. Cell. Physiol. 9999: 2683–2694, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.