Genomic signatures predict the immunogenicity of BRCA-deficient breast cancer

Purpose: Breast cancers with BRCA1/2 alterations have a relatively high mutational load, suggesting that immune checkpoint blockade may be a potential treatment option. However, the degree of immune cell infiltration varies widely, and molecular features contributing to this variability remain unknown. Experimental Design: We hypothesized that genomic signatures might predict immunogenicity in BRCA1/2 breast cancers. Using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) genomic data, we compared breast cancers with (89) and without (770) either germline or somatic BRCA1/2 alterations. We also studied 35 breast cancers with germline BRCA1/2 mutations from Penn using WES and IHC. Results: We found that homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) scores were negatively associated with expression-based immune indices [cytolytic index ( P = 0.04), immune ESTIMATE ( P = 0.002), type II IFN signaling ( P = 0.002)] despite being associated with a higher mutational/neoantigen burden, in BRCA1/2 mutant breast cancers. Further, absence of allele-specific loss of heterozygosity (LOH negative; P = 0.01) or subclonality ( P = 0.003) of germline and somatic BRCA1/2 mutations, respectively, predicted for heightened cytolytic activity. Gene set analysis found that multiple innate and adaptive immune pathways that converge on NF-κB may contribute to this heightened immunogenicity. IHC of Penn breast cancers demonstrated increased CD45 + ( P = 0.039) and CD8 + infiltrates ( P = 0.037) and increased PDL1 expression ( P = 0.012) in HRD-low or LOH-negative cancers. Triple-negative cancers with low HRD had far greater CD8 + T cells ( P = 0.0011) and Perforin 1 expression ( P = 0.014) compared with hormone receptor-positive HRD-high cancers. Conclusions: HRD scores and hormone receptor subtype are predictive of immunogenicity in BRCA1/2 breast cancers and may inform the design of optimal immune therapeutic strategies.