Antibody responses to NY-ESO-1 in primary breast cancer identify a subtype target for immunotherapy

• Published in: PloS one 2011-06, Vol.6 (6), p.e21129-e21129
• Main Authors: Hamaï, Ahmed, Duperrier-Amouriaux, Karine, Pignon, Pascale, Raimbaud, Isabelle, Memeo, Lorenzo, Colarossi, Cristina, Canzonieri, Vincenzo, Perin, Tiziana, Classe, Jean-Marc, Campone, Mario, Jézéquel, Pascal, Campion, Loïc, Ayyoub, Maha, Valmori, Danila
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibodies; Antibodies, Neoplasm - immunology; Antibody Specificity; Antigens; Antigens, Neoplasm - genetics; Antigens, Neoplasm - immunology; Biology; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - genetics; Breast Neoplasms - immunology; Breast Neoplasms - metabolism; Breast Neoplasms - therapy; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Cancer treatment; Carcinoma; Cell Line, Tumor; Chemotherapy; Drug therapy; E coli; ErbB-2 protein; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic - immunology; Health aspects; Humans; Immune response; Immunogenicity; Immunotherapy; Immunotherapy - methods; Invasiveness; Lymph nodes; Medical diagnosis; Medical research; Medicine; Membrane Proteins - genetics; Membrane Proteins - immunology; Oncology; Ovarian cancer; Pathology; Patient Selection; Patients; Receptor, ErbB-2 - metabolism; Receptors, Estrogen - deficiency; Receptors, Estrogen - metabolism; Receptors, Progesterone - deficiency; Receptors, Progesterone - metabolism; Target recognition; Therapy; Transcription factors; Tumors
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021129

The highly immunogenic human tumor antigen NY-ESO-1 (ESO) is a target of choice for anti-cancer immune therapy. In this study, we assessed spontaneous antibody (Ab) responses to ESO in a large cohort of patients with primary breast cancer (BC) and addressed the correlation between the presence of anti-ESO Ab, the expression of ESO in the tumors and their characteristics. We found detectable Ab responses to ESO in 1% of the patients. Tumors from patients with circulating Ab to ESO exhibited common characteristics, being mainly hormone receptor (HR)⁻ invasive ductal carcinomas of high grade, including both HER2⁻ and HER2⁺ tumors. In line with these results, we detected ESO expression in 20% of primary HR⁻ BC, including both ESO Ab⁺ and Ab⁻ patients, but not in HR⁺ BC. Interestingly, whereas expression levels in ESO⁺ BC were not significantly different between ESO Ab⁺ and Ab⁻ patients, the former had, in average, significantly higher numbers of tumor-infiltrated lymph nodes, indicating that lymph node invasion may be required for the development of spontaneous anti-tumor immune responses. Thus, the presence of ESO Ab identifies a tumor subtype of HR⁻ (HER2⁻ or HER2⁺) primary BC with frequent ESO expression and, together with the assessment of antigen expression in the tumor, may be instrumental for the selection of patients for whom ESO-based immunotherapy may complement standard therapy.