Next-Generation Sequencing-Directed Therapy in Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer in Routine Clinical Practice

Abstract

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) followed by matched therapy has opened up new therapeutic options to patients with metastatic breast cancer (mBC). Here we report our experience with this approach in everyday clinical practice. This retrospective study included 95 patients with mBC who were genotyped with the FoundationOne® (CDx) assay in a commercial molecular pathology laboratory. Genetic alterations were identified in all tumor specimens, and 83 patients (87.4%) had a median of 2 (range, 1–6) potentially actionable alterations. A multidisciplinary tumor board recommended genomically guided therapy to 63 patients, 30 of whom received such treatment. Everolimus (n = 15) and anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) therapy (n = 6) were most frequently administered. The ratio of progression-free survival (PFS) under NGS-based therapy to PFS under the last line of standard therapy prior to NGS was >1.3 in 13 (43.3%) patients, indicative of a clinical benefit to NGS-directed therapy. One-year overall survival rates were 22.7% (95% CI, 6.5–44.4) in 65 patients allocated to the standard therapy versus 62.9% (95% CI, 41.6–78.2) in 30 patients receiving the matched therapy. In conclusion, NGS-matched treatment improved the clinical outcomes in a subgroup of mBC patients.

Keywords

• breast cancer
• metastatic
• next-generation sequencing
• NGS
• molecular profiling
• targeted therapy