Alpha-smooth Muscle Actin Expression in the Stroma Predicts Resistance to Trastuzumab in Patients with Early-stage HER2-positive Breast Cancer

The companion diagnostic test for trastuzumab has not changed much in the last 25 years. We used high-plex digital spatial profiling to identify biomarkers besides HER2 that can help predict response to trastuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer. Fifty-eight protein targets were measured in three different molecularly defined compartments by the NanoString GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler (DSP) in a tissue microarray containing 151 patients with breast cancer that received adjuvant trastuzumab as part of the Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group 10/05 clinical trial. Promising candidate biomarkers were orthogonally validated with quantitative immunofluorescence (QIF). RNA-sequencing data from the Neoadjuvant Lapatinib and/or Trastuzumab Treatment Optimisation Study (NeoALTTO) were accessed to provide independent cohort validation. Disease-free survival (DFS) was the main outcome assessed. Statistical analyses were performed using a two-sided test (α = 0.05) and multiple testing correction (Benjamini-Hochberg method, FDR < 0.1). By DSP, high expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), both in the leukocyte and stromal compartments, was associated with shorter DFS in univariate analysis ( = 0.002 and = 0.023, respectively). High α-SMA expression in the stroma was validated by QIF after controlling for estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor status [HR, 3.12; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.12-8.68; = 0.029] showing recurrence on trastuzumab in the same cohort. In the NeoALTTO cohort, elevated levels of were predictive for shorter DFS in the multivariate analysis (HR, 3.21; 95% CI, 1.14-9.05; = 0.027). This work identifies α-SMA as a novel, easy-to-implement biomarker of resistance to trastuzumab that may be valuable in settings where trastuzumab is combined with other therapies.