Association of microRNA-21 with efficacy of cetuximab in RAS wild-type patients in the FIRE-3 study (AIO KRK-0306) and microRNA-21’s influence on gene expression in the EGFR signaling pathway.

Authors

null

Lisa Miller-Phillips

Department of Medicine III, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany

Lisa Miller-Phillips , Volker Heinemann , Arndt Stahler , Ludwig Fischer von Weikersthal , Florian Kaiser , Salah-Eddin Al-Batran , Daniel Neureiter , Christoph Kahl , Frank Kullmann , Markus H. Moehler , Werner Scheithauer , Celine Vazart , Karine Fontaine , Swantje Held , Dominik Paul Modest , Jens Neumann , Andreas Jung , Thomas Kirchner , Sebastian Stintzing

Organizations

Department of Medicine III, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany, Department of Oncology, Gesundheitszentrum St. Marien GmbH, Amberg, Germany, VK&K Studienzentrum, Landshut, Landshut, Germany, Krankenhaus Nordwest, University Cancer Center, Frankfurt, Germany, Institute of Pathology, Salzburg, Austria, Department for Hematology, Klinikum Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany, Department of Internal Medicine I, Academic Teaching Hospital Weiden, Weiden, Germany, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, IntegraGen SA, Evry, France, ClinAssess GmbH, Leverkusen, Germany, Department of Pathology, University of Munich, Munich, Germany, Medical Department, Division of Oncology and Hematology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Research Funding

Pharmaceutical/Biotech Company

Background: FIRE-3 compared first-line therapy with FOLFIRI plus cetuximab (cet) or bevacizumab (bev) in KRAS exon 2 wild-type (wt) patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Recent analyses showed mircoRNA-21 (miR-21) expression level may be a predictive biomarker for anti-EGFR-therapy raising the question whether miR-21 influences gene expression in the EGFR signaling pathway. Methods: Reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay identified quantitative miR-21 expression. Median expression was defined as a threshold value to discriminate FIRE-3 population into miR-21 low and high groups. Differential gene expression based on additional mRNA microarray data (Almac Inc, Xcel Array) was calculated by linear models adjusted for multiple testing followed by single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) to compare differentially enriched hallmarks of cancer gene sets. Overall response rate (ORR) was compared using Fisher´s exact test. Median progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier estimation and log-rank test. Results: 333 RAS wt patients provided material for miR-21 expression analysis. In these patients, low miR-21 expression was associated with higher ORR (80.0% vs. 57.9%; p = 0.005) and longer OS (35.8 months (mo) vs. 25.9 mo; p = 0.005) when cet vs bev was added to FOLFIRI. High miR-21 expression was associated with comparable ORR (74.6% vs. 64.0%; p = 0.21) and OS (24.5 mo vs. 23.8 mo; p = 0.4). There was no significant difference in PFS in either group. By comparing miR-21 low and high groups using normalized mRNA microarray data, 538 genes were found to be significantly differentially expressed in RAS wt patients after adjustment for multiple testing. Including data from the two groups into ssGSEA yielded 23 hallmark of cancer gene sets that were significantly differentially enriched; among them, KRAS-signaling showed higher enrichment in the miR-21 high group (adjusted p = 2.09 E-13). Conclusions: MiR-21 expression level might be a predictive biomarker for anti-EGFR-therapy by modulating KRAS signaling in FIRE-3 patients.

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2019 ASCO Annual Meeting

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Gastrointestinal (Colorectal) Cancer

Track

Gastrointestinal Cancer—Colorectal and Anal

Sub Track

Epidemiology/Outcomes

Citation

J Clin Oncol 37, 2019 (suppl; abstr 3593)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2019.37.15_suppl.3593

Abstract #

3593

Poster Bd #

85

Abstract Disclosures