Organ- and histology-specific molecular and immune landscape of metastatic breast cancer.

1024 Background: Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is a distinct breast cancer (BC) subtype with dissemination patterns differing from invasive breast carcinoma of no special type (IBC-NST). While genomic differences between ILC and IBC-NST have been described, the extent to which molecular and immune profiles vary by metastatic organ and histology is poorly characterized. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis to evaluate organ- and histology-specific molecular features of metastatic BC (mBC). Patients with metastatic IBC-NST or pure ILC underwent NGS (592, NextSeq; WES/WTS, NovaSeq; Caris Life Sciences). Tumor mutational burden (high ≥10 mut/Mb), PD-L1 expression (22C3), and immune cell fractions (RNAseq deconvolution, quanTIseq) were assessed. Analyses were restricted to sites with ≥10 biopsies per histology. Comparisons used chi-square or Mann–Whitney U tests with multiple testing correction (q < 0.05). Results: A total of 2645 mBC biopsies (605 ILC; 2040 IBC-NST) were analyzed (Table). In ILC, ERBB2 mut frequency differed by metastatic site (q<0.01), with higher prevalence in liver (32.7%) and lower in gastrointestinal (GI) lesions (3.7%). In IBC-NST, ESR1 and GATA3 mut and FGFR1 amplification were enriched in liver metastases, whereas PD-L1 expression was highest in skin (20.7%) and lowest in liver (5.0%). No organ-specific differences were observed for PIK3CA, AKT, PTEN, BRCA1/2 or RB1 . Across metastatic sites, both ILC and IBC-NST showed differences in B cells, macrophages (M1/M2), neutrophils, NK cells, dendritic cells, CD8+ T cells, and Tregs (all q < 0.05); CD4+ T-cell differences were observed only in IBC-NST (q = 0.002). In organ-specific ILC vs IBC-NST comparisons, CDH1 mut were more frequent in ILC across sites, along with higher PIK3CA mut in skin (ILC 51.3% vs IBC-NST 34.4%) and higher ERBB2 mut in liver (32.7% vs 3.3%), whereas a higher TP53 mut frequency was observed in IBC-NST in skin (28.5% vs 52.3%) and lymph nodes (LND) (23.5% vs 55.5%) (all q < 0.01). Conclusions: mBC exhibits marked organ-specific molecular and immune heterogeneity that differs by histology. These findings support histology- and site-aware interpretation of metastatic biopsies and may inform biomarker assessment and treatment decisions in advanced disease. BC-NST ILC Skin LND Bone Breast Liver Perit. CNS q-value Skin LND Bone Breast GI Liver GYN Perit. CNS q-value N (specimens) 785 401 109 361 220 15 44 - 172 84 62 56 56 54 43 37

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Journal
Journal of Clinical Oncology
Published
2026-05-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1200/jco.2026.44.16_suppl.1024
Primary Topic
Metastasis and carcinoma case studies
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article
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article

Organ- and histology-specific molecular and immune landscape of metastatic breast cancer.

Pooja Prem Advani, Guilherme Nader Marta, Adrian V. Lee, Erica L. Mayer et al.
Journal of Clinical Oncology
Metastasis and carcinoma case studies
article

Organ- and histology-specific molecular and immune landscape of metastatic breast cancer.

Pooja Prem Advani, Guilherme Nader Marta, Adrian V. Lee, Erica L. Mayer, Maryam B. Lustberg, S J Schnitt, K. Fanucci, P. Barreto Coelho, Nancy Lin, Sachin Kumar Deshmukh, Sharon Wu, Otto Metzger, George W. Sledge, Sara M. Tolaney, Steffi Oesterreich, Joanne Xiu, Rinath Jeselsohn
article en

Abstract

1024 Background: Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is a distinct breast cancer (BC) subtype with dissemination patterns differing from invasive breast carcinoma of no special type (IBC-NST). While genomic differences between ILC and IBC-NST have been described, the extent to which molecular and immune profiles vary by metastatic organ and histology is poorly characterized. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis to evaluate organ- and histology-specific molecular features of metastatic BC (mBC). Patients with metastatic IBC-NST or pure ILC underwent NGS (592, NextSeq; WES/WTS, NovaSeq; Caris Life Sciences). Tumor mutational burden (high ≥10 mut/Mb), PD-L1 expression (22C3), and immune cell fractions (RNAseq deconvolution, quanTIseq) were assessed. Analyses were restricted to sites with ≥10 biopsies per histology. Comparisons used chi-square or Mann–Whitney U tests with multiple testing correction (q < 0.05). Results: A total of 2645 mBC biopsies (605 ILC; 2040 IBC-NST) were analyzed (Table). In ILC, ERBB2 mut frequency differed by metastatic site (q<0.01), with higher prevalence in liver (32.7%) and lower in gastrointestinal (GI) lesions (3.7%). In IBC-NST, ESR1 and GATA3 mut and FGFR1 amplification were enriched in liver metastases, whereas PD-L1 expression was highest in skin (20.7%) and lowest in liver (5.0%). No organ-specific differences were observed for PIK3CA, AKT, PTEN, BRCA1/2 or RB1 . Across metastatic sites, both ILC and IBC-NST showed differences in B cells, macrophages (M1/M2), neutrophils, NK cells, dendritic cells, CD8+ T cells, and Tregs (all q < 0.05); CD4+ T-cell differences were observed only in IBC-NST (q = 0.002). In organ-specific ILC vs IBC-NST comparisons, CDH1 mut were more frequent in ILC across sites, along with higher PIK3CA mut in skin (ILC 51.3% vs IBC-NST 34.4%) and higher ERBB2 mut in liver (32.7% vs 3.3%), whereas a higher TP53 mut frequency was observed in IBC-NST in skin (28.5% vs 52.3%) and lymph nodes (LND) (23.5% vs 55.5%) (all q < 0.01). Conclusions: mBC exhibits marked organ-specific molecular and immune heterogeneity that differs by histology. These findings support histology- and site-aware interpretation of metastatic biopsies and may inform biomarker assessment and treatment decisions in advanced disease. BC-NST ILC Skin LND Bone Breast Liver Perit. CNS q-value Skin LND Bone Breast GI Liver GYN Perit. CNS q-value N (specimens) 785 401 109 361 220 15 44 - 172 84 62 56 56 54 43 37

Journal of Clinical OncologyVol. 44(16_suppl)
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US), Harvard University (US), University of Miami (US), Jacksonville College (US), Yale Cancer Center (US), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (US), UPMC Hillman Cancer Center (US), Caris Life Sciences (United States) (US), Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 8%
Metastasis and carcinoma case studies
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