Topoisomerase a 2 and thymidylate synthase expression in adrenocortical cancer

1Elisa Roca, 1 Alfredo Berruti, 2Silviu Sbiera, 3Ida Rapa, 1Ester Oneda, 4Paola Sperone, 2Cristina L. Ronchi, 1Laura Ferrari, 1Salvatore Grisanti, 5Antonina Germano, 5Barbara Zaggia, 4Giorgio Vittorio Scagliotti, 2Martin Fassnacht, 3Marco Volante, 5Massimo Terzolo, ‘Mauro Papotti.

Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences, and Public Health, University of Brescia, Oncology Unit, ASST Spedali Civili di Brescia, Brescia, Italy.

2Department of Internal Medicine I, Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, University Hospital, University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany

3Department of Oncology, University of Turin, Pathology Unit, San Luigi Gonzaga Hospital, Orbassano, Italy

4Department of Oncology, University of Turin, Medical Oncology, San Luigi Gonzaga Hospital, Orbassano, Italy

5Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Turin, Internal Medicine 1. San Luigi Gonzaga Hospital, Orbassano, Italy.

Department of Oncology, University of Turin; Pathology Unit, City of Health and Science Hospital, Turin, Italy.

Correspondence to:

Professor Alfredo Berruti

Oncologia Medica ASST Spedali Civili Piazzale Spedali Civili 1, 25123 Brescia - Italy Tel 030 3995410 Email: alfredo.berruti@unibs.it

Short title

TOP2a and TS expression in adrenocortical carcinoma

Keywords: adrenocortical carcinoma, topoisomerase alpha 2, thymidylate synthase, prognostic and predictive factors

Words count:

· Abstract (maximum 250 words): 250

· Manuscript (maximum 5000 words): 2471

· Figures (maximum 10): 6 figures (1, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b) and 2 tables

· References: (maximum 60 words): 41

1 Abstract

2

Topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A) and Thymidylate Synthase (TS) are known prognostic parameters 3 4 in several tumors and also predictors of efficacy of anthracyclines, topoisomerase inhibitors and

5 fluoropirimidines, respectively.

6 7 8 9 Expression of TOP2A and TS mRNA was assessed in 98 patients with adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) and protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in a subset of 39 tumors. Ninety-two patients were radically resected for stage II-III disease and 38 of them received adjuvant mitotane. Twenty-six patients with metastatic disease received the EDP-M (Etoposide, 10 Doxorubicin, Adriamycin, Cisplatin plus mitotane). TOP2A and TS expression in ACC tissue was 11 directly correlated with the clinical data. Both markers were not associated with either disease free

12 survival (DFS) or overall survival (OS) in multivariate analyses and failed to be associated to mitotane efficacy. Disease response or stabilization to EDP-M treatment was observed in 12/17 (71%) and 1/9 (11%) patients with high and low TOP2A expressing tumors (p=0.0039) and 9/13 (69%) and 4/13 (31%) patients with high and low TS expressing ACC, respectively (p=0.049). High TOP2A expression was significantly associated with longer time to progression (TTP) after EDP- M. TOP2A and TS proteins assessed by immunohistochemistry significantly correlated with mRNA expression. Immunohistochemical TOP2A expression was associated with a non-significant better response and longer TTP after EDP-M.

TOP2A and TS were neither prognostic nor predictive of mitotane efficacy in ACC patients.

The predictive role of TOP2A expression of EDP-M activity suggests a significant contribution of adriamycin and etoposide for the efficacy of the EDP scheme.

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24 25

Introduction

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare and aggressive malignant tumor [Fassnacht M, et al. 26 2011; Terzolo M, et al. 2013]. Surgery is the mainstay of therapy. Although complete surgical 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 removal of ACC is the only potentially curative approach, most of the radically resected patients are destined to relapse, often with metastases [Bellantone R, et al. 1997; Icard P, et al. 2001]. Mitotane is the reference systemic therapy for ACC [Hahner S, & Fassnacht M, 2005]. On the basis of the results of a large retrospective multicentric study carried out at several referral centers in Italy and Germany [Terzolo M, et al. 2007], the drug is recommended to be administered in adjuvant setting in radically resected ACC with high risk of recurrence [Berruti A, et al. 2010; Berruti A, et al. 2012]. The recent finding that mitotane serum levels are prognostic in patients receiving the drug as adjuvant therapy provides further evidence in favor of the efficacy of this drug in this setting 35 [Terzolo M, et al. 2013]. However, few prognostic factors are currently available to identify the 36 37 patient risk of relapse and death of disease. Currently only disease stage, completeness of initial resection, and proliferation index are widely accepted prognostic factors [Berruti A, et al. 2010; 38 Volante M, et al. 2008; Beuschlein F, et al 2015]. In the patients with metastatic disease at 39 diagnosis or showing distant recurrence after surgery, chemotherapy plus mitotane is the best 40 treatment strategy. The results of a multinational prospective randomized clinical study have 41 established the combination chemotherapy with the topoisomerase II inhibitor Etoposide, the 42 anthracycline Doxorubicin, Cisplatin plus mitotane (EDP-M) as the reference regimen for this rare disease [Fassnacht M, et al. 2012] Adjuvant mitotane therapy and EDP-M however, are toxic and their overall efficacies limited. Therefore, the establishment of predictive factors that identify a subset of patients, in whom a certain treatment would be more effective, would be highly desirable. We have previously evaluated the expression of ribonucleotide reductase large subunit 1 (RRM1) and ERCC1 genes in a multicenter (German and Italian) cohort of ACC patients and provided the

43 44 45 46 47 48 first evidence in vitro and in vivo that RRM1 gene expression levels are functionally associated to

49 mitotane sensitivity and predict response to mitotane treatment in adjuvant setting [Volante M, et al. 2012].

In the same series we now assessed the expression of two other biomarkers with potential prognostic impact: the topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A), an enzyme responsible for transcription, replication and chromosome condensation and segregation during cell division [Kellner U1, et al. 2002]; and the thymidylate synthase (TS), an enzyme involved in nucleotide metabolism [Lv YT, et al. 2013]. TOP2A is also a well known predictor of efficacy of anthracyclines and topoisomerase inhibitors [Wang J, et al. 2012] and TS is predictive of the efficacy of fluoropyrimidines [Formentini A, et al. 2004]. In the present study, we explored the prognostic significance of these markers in ACC as well as their predictive role for efficacy of adjuvant mitotane and of EDP-M in patients with advanced disease.

Materials and Methods

Patients.

Ninety-eight patients with radically resected ACC between 1989 and 2007 at the San Luigi Hospital of Orbassano, University of Turin, Italy (51 patients) and 35 centers in Germany coordinated by the German ACC Registry (47 patients) were included according to the following eligibility criteria: 1) age of 18 years or older; 2) histologically confirmed diagnosis of ACC after central pathologic revision (MV, MP); 3) complete resection of primary ACC, 4) availability of follow-up information, 5) availability of representative paraffin-embedded tissue block(s). All patients fulfilling these criteria were included in the study. Ninety-two patients were already considered in the previously published series that have tested ERCC1 and RRM1 [Volante M, et al. 2012]. In the present paper we also considered six patients from the Italian archive that were excluded in the published series because they were metastatic at diagnosis. These patients were radically resected on primary tumor but not on metastatic disease. The diagnosis of ACC was based on the pathological Weiss score [Weiss LM, et al. 1989]. Variables recorded included age, sex, hormone 4

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secretion, ENSAT stage at diagnosis [Fassnacht M, et al. 2009], initial therapeutic options including primary surgery, disease-free survival (DFS) for patients initially radically resected, defined by the time elapsing from diagnosis to either disease relapse or patient death, overall survival (OS), calculated from diagnosis till death, Weiss score, mitotic count, sites of metastases at the time of progression. ACC relapse was defined as the appearance of local recurrence or metastatic disease at imaging techniques during follow-up. Adjuvant mitotane was offered to patients considered at high risk of relapse, in presence of the following criteria: 1) stage III ACC; 2) high mitotic index. When a post-operative adjunctive measure was deemed necessary, a monitored mitotane treatment aiming at plasma concentrations between 14 and 20 mg/l [Baudin E, et al. 2001; Ceppi P, et al. 2008] was 84 employed. In the absence of intolerability to mitotane, treatment was scheduled for at least 2 years, or till ACC recurrence. Follow-up protocols were similar among the different centers including imaging (CT or MRI) of both chest and abdomen at baseline and thereafter every 3-6 months until disease progression or end of the study period. At each visit, the patients underwent physical examination, routine laboratory evaluation and hormonal work-up. Monitoring of mitotane concentrations was done in treated patients. For recurrent disease, radical surgery was performed if complete resection seemed feasible. In case of not resectable disease, patients received mitotane alone or chemotherapy plus mitotane according to disease aggressiveness, tumor bulk and previous mitotane exposure. Twenty-six patients, 4 metastatic at diagnosis and 22 with disease recurrence after primary surgery, received the combination of EDP-M. Patients gave informed consent for collecting tissue and clinical data and the study was approved by the ethics committees of both centres.

RNA isolation from paraffin embedded tissues and quantitative real time PCR.

Representative tumour areas were dissected under stereomicroscopic assistance from 10 um sections of paraffin-embedded tissue in RNAse-free conditions. RNA isolation was performed by commercially available paraffin material RNA extraction kits according to manufacturer’s

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instructions (High Pure RNA Paraffin Kit; Roche Applied Science, Milano, Italy). Complementary DNA was transcribed using 500ug/ml oligo dT (Roche Applied Science, Penzberg, Germany) and 500M-MLV RT (200U/ul) (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, California) according to standard protocols. Relative cDNA quantification of TS and TOP2A and of internal reference gene (beta-actin) was done in duplicate using a fluorescence-based real-time detection method (ABI PRISM 7900 Sequence Detection System-Taqman; Applied Biosystems, Life Technologies). Primers and probes sequences for TS and TOP2A and cycling conditions have already been published elsewhere [21,22]. The relative gene expression levels were expressed as ratios (differences between the Ct values) between 2 absolute measurements (genes of interest/internal reference gene).

Then, the AACt values were calculated subtracting ACt values of each case to the value of the case with the lowest expression, and converting the ratio by the 2-44C formula; cases were considered of low or high expression according to the median expression level obtained. A mixture containing Human Total RNA (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA) was used as control calibrator on each plate.

Immunohistochemical evaluation

116 Five um thick paraffin sections serial to those used for conventional hematoxylin and eosin staining were obtained for immunohistochemical reactions. The following antibodies were employed: TS (1/100, rabbit monoclonal, clone ERP4545) and TOP2A (diluted 1/100, rabbit monoclonal, clone EP1102y) (Abcam, Cambridge, UK). Immunohistochemistry was performed in automated Ventana BenchMark Ultra instrument (Ventana, Roche, Tucson, AZ). Immunoreactivity was scored using the H-score which is generated from the following equation: H-score= >Pi (i + 1), where “2” represents the intensity of staining (0-3+), and “Pi” stands for the percentage of stained tumor cells (0% to 100%).

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Correlations between the expressions of TOP2A and TS genes, as well as between protein and - mRNA expression were tested using the Spearman coefficient. Differences of categorical variables were analyzed using the chi2 test. DFS and OS survival curves were computed using the Kaplan- Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. Hazard ratios (HR) for disease progression and 130 patient death were estimated using the Cox proportional hazard model. Multivariate analyses were carried out adjusting for patient age, sex, Weiss score, ACC stage, mitotic count, and cortisol secretion. Cox models were also used to assess the presence of heterogeneity in the effect of marker expression in the different patient subgroups, defined by the covariates, by including in the model 134 the appropriate treatment/covariate interaction term. Statistical analyses were carried out by using the SPSS for windows software (version 17).

Results

Patients

Patient characteristics are depicted in Table 1. Both Italian and German cohorts were comparable in 140 terms of age, sex proportion, presence of clinical syndromes, and tumor characteristics (data for 92 patients previously published, [Volante M, et al. 2012]. Adjuvant mitotane therapy was administered to 38 patients (38.8%): 18 Italian and 20 German patients, respectively; the remaining 54 patients (55.1%) with non-metastatic disease did not receive any postoperative treatment. The median follow-up was 66.3 months in all patients, being 80 months and 62.8 months in the Italian and German cohorts, respectively. Among patients with stage II-III disease, 64 (65.3%) developed disease recurrence, 29 of the Italian series (67.4%) and 35 of the German series (74.5%). Among them, 30 were treated with chemotherapy; streptozotocyn in 8 patients, EDP (Etoposide, Doxorubicin, Cisplatin) in 22 patients. Both streptozotocyn and EDP were administered in association with mitotane. Overall 51 patients (52.0%) died of ACC progression: 28 (54.9%) in the Italian series and 23 (48.9%) in the German series, respectively.

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126 127 128 129

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Relationship between tissue marker expression and patient and tumor characteristics

As outlined in Table 2, both TOP2A and TS gene expression, dichotomized at the median value, did not show any significant relationship with histopathologic features, except for the significant direct correlation between TS expression levels and Weiss score. TOP2A and TS expressions were significantly directly correlated (p=0.006) and both markers showed a direct relationship with 157 RRM1 (p=0.026 and p=0.011 for TOP2A and TS, respectively) but not with ERCC1 (p=0.54 and p=0.61 for TOP2A and TS, respectively). In the 39 patients in which TOP2A and TS protein 159 expression were assessed by immunohistochemistry, a significant relationship was found between the gene and the relevant protein expression of both enzymes (Spearman R 0.52 and 0.46 for TOP2A and TS, respectively) (figure 1).

Relationship between marker expression and disease free and overall survival

In univariate analysis, TS gene expression was not associated with DFS [Hazard Ratio (HR): 0.96, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.60-1.53, p=0.87] and OS (0.86, 95% CI: 0.49-1.50, p=0.60). High TOP2A expression levels were associated with higher risk of disease recurrence but just failing to 167 attain statistical significance (HR: 1.49, 95% CI: 0.93-2.37, p =0.09) and was significantly 168 associated with a higher risk of death (HR: 1.78, 95% CI: 1.02-3.19, p<0.05). In multivariate analysis, however, TOP2A expression failed to be a significant independent prognostic parameter either in terms of DFS (HR: 1.18, 95% CI: 0.71-1.98, p=0.51) or OS (HR: 1.61, 95% CI: 0.87-2.98, p=0.13).

Predictive role of TOP2A and TS expression for the efficacy of adjuvant mitotane

As previously reported, in this series mitotane-treated patients had a longer median DFS than untreated patients (22.5 months [95% CI, 1.8-43.1] versus 13.2 months [95% CI, 6.2-20.2], HR, 0.70 [95% CI, 0.43-1.16; P= 0.17]), and longer median OS (154 months [95%CI, 65.1-242.9] versus 53 months [95% CI, 22.6-83.4], HR 0.63 [95% CI, 0.34-1.16; P=0.14]).

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169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177

The prognostic effect of mitotane administration was assessed stratifying the patients according to marker expression (dichotomised at the median value). As shown in Figure 2, no different effect of mitotane treatment was observed in terms of DFS in patients with high versus low TOP2A and TS expression.

Predictive role of marker expression of EDP + mitotane activity

184 Among the 26 ACC patients who received first line EDP-M for metastatic disease, four (15%) achieved a partial response (PR), nine (35%) stable disease (SD) and 13 (50%) experienced progressive disease (PD) after 2 or 3 cycles.

The clinical benefit (SD or PR) of EDP-M was directly associated with TOP2A expression: 12 SD/PR out of 17 (71%) patients in high TOP2A group as opposed to 1/9 (11%) in low TOP2A group (p=0.0039) (Figure 3a). Stratifying patients according to TS expression, a SD/PR was observed in 9/13 (69%) patients with high gene expression and 4/13 (31%) patients with low TS expression, respectively (p=0.049) (Figure 3b). EDP-M administration was associated with longer time to progression (TTP) in patients with high TOP2A as opposed to those with low TOP2A (p=0.038) (Figure 4a), while no difference in terms of TTP after EDP-M was observed stratifying patients according to TS (data not shown). Fifteen EDP-M treated patients had TOP2A protein expression assessed by immunohistochemistry. TOP2A expression >30% of stained cells (the median value) was associated with a greater chance to attain SD/PR [5/9 (55.5%) vs 1/6 (16.6%), p=0.22] and longer TTP (figure 4b) than TOP2A ≤ 30%. These differences failed to attain the statistical significance. Among the 12 EDP-M patients, whose tumors had TS expression assessed by immunohistochemistry, TS expression above the median value (>30% of stained cells) was associated with a non significant greater SD/PR rate [3/6 (50.0%) vs 1/6 (16.6%), p=0.54] but TTP was similar to that of patients with TS ≤ 30% (data not shown).

Neither ERCC1 nor RRM1 correlated with a clinical benefit of the therapy: SD/PR in 8/15 (53%) versus 5/11 (45%) in high and low ERCC1 expressing tumors (p=0.69) (Figure 3c); SD/PR in 7/16

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(44%) versus 6/10 (60%) in high and low RRM1 expressing tumors, respectively (p=0.42) (Figure 3d). No difference in term of TTP was observed stratifying patients according to both RRM1 and ERCC1 expression (data not shown).

Discussion

TOP2A and TS have been shown to play a prognostic role in several cancers, such as colorectal, 212 esophageal, breast, prostate, pancreatic, lung, and other cancers [Peters GJ, et al. 1994; Lenz HJ, et al. 1998; Suda Y, et al. 1999; Suzuki M, et al. 1999; Edler D, et al. 2000; Harpole DH Jr., et al. 2001; Nakopoulou L, et al. 2001; Di Leo A, et al. 2003; Gonen Met al. 2003; O’Connor JK, et al. 2006; Shvero J, et al. 2008; Faggad A, et al. 2009; Van der Zee JA, et al. 2012; Lee SW, et al. 2013; Yan H, et al. 2015]. At the best of our knowledge, the prognostic role of these two markers has never been explored in ACC.

In this study, we have measured the mRNA expressions of TOP2A and TS in a relatively large series of 98 ACC patients, considering the extreme rarity of this tumor.

The results showed that TS expression is not prognostic in ACC while TOP2A expression in univariate analysis showed a significant correlation with a worse OS although failing to be significantly associated with DFS. In multivariate analysis, after adjusting for prognostic factors including mitotic index, TOP2A expression failed to be a significant independent prognostic parameter. TOP2A is a marker of cell proliferation [Zhang H, et al. 2014] and the direct correlation of this enzyme expression with the mitotic count (although not significant) could account for its failure to be an independent prognostic parameter.

As mentioned in the introduction, both TOP2A and TS are also well known predictors of chemotherapy efficacy. In our series, high TOP2A expression in primary ACC was significantly associated with responsiveness to EDP-M and increased TTP in metastatic patients.

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All these data refer to gene expression of both enzymes. In order to explore whether TOP2A and TS expressed at the protein level provide the same information, the expression of both enzymes by immunohistochemistry was performed in the Italian patients having residual paraffin material available. A significant correlation was found between PCR and immunohistochemistry both for TOP2A and TS expression. In addition, the predictive role of TOP2A of efficacy of EDP-M in advanced ACC patients was confirmed also at immunohistochemistry although without attaining the statistical significance due to the low number of patients considered. Taken together these data suggest that TOP2A and TS protein expression may have the same prognostic and predictive role as mRNA expression levels in ACC.

TOP2A is a notorious predictor of efficacy to anthracycline and topoisomerase inhibitors in several tumors, but not to cisplatin. However, cisplatin is the reference cytotoxic drug in ACC and it is actually unknown whether EDP is more efficacious than cisplatin alone since no randomized studies have been conducted. In our opinion, these data suggest the importance of adriamycin and etoposide in the EDP scheme, particularly if TOP2A is highly expressed.

Also TS showed a direct relationship with the disease response of EDP-M, although with a lesser magnitude than TOP2A, but not with TTP. Since fluoropyrimidines are not included in the EDP-M regimen, the direct relationship of TS with TOP2A may explain the association of this marker expression with EDP-M activity.

In this small series, both RRM1 and ERCC1 failed to be associated with EDP-M activity, this is an expected finding for RRM1 since this marker was repeatedly found to be predictive of gemcitabine efficacy, but not for ERCC1 that is a predictive factor of cisplatin efficacy in non small cell lung cancer [Ronchi CL, et al. 2009]. In ACC patients, tissue ERCC1 assessed by immunohistochemistry was associated with efficacy of cisplatin containing regimens in one study [Baudin E, et al. 2011] but not confirmed in another series [Sbiera S, et al. 2015].

In this paper we also explored the potential role of TOP2A and TS for mitotane efficacy in adjuvant setting. Although very recently sterol-O-acyl-transferase 1 (SOAT1) was identified as a key 11

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intracellular target of mitotane [Sbiera S, et al. 2015], the identification of a possible association between mitotane efficacy with a biological parameter in an explorative analysis, would be very useful to understand the mechanisms of sensitivity and resistance of ACC to this drug.

Both TOP2A and TS failed to have a predictive role for adjuvant mitotane efficacy; however the difference in the DFS curves of adjuvant mitotane versus follow-up only in low versus high TS expressing ACC, although not significant, does not exclude the potential role of this marker of mitotane efficacy.

Conclusions

The predictive role of TOP2A expression with the efficacy of EDP-M is new and of potential clinical relevance. EDP is a toxic regimen and this observation, if confirmed, suggests the potential importance of adding adriamycin and etoposide to cisplatin in highly expressing TOP2A tumors, while these 2 drugs might be unhelpful in low TOP2A expressing ACC.

Declaration of interest:

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Funding:

This study was supported by grants from AIRC, Milan (no. IG/14820/2013 to MP), Fondazione Camillo Golgi, Brescia, and donations of “gli Amici di Carlo” in memory of Carlo Ridon, “gli Amici di Andrea” in memory of Andrea Gadeschi, Pertot Valentino and Stolfa Maria Teresa in memory of Pertot Cristiana, Serena Ambrogini in memory of Guido Cioni.

Author contributions:

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Elisa Roca, Alfredo Berruti, Massimo Terzolo, Marco Volante contributed to study concept and design and to writing of the report

Silviu Sbiera, Paola Sperone, Barbara Zaggia Cristina Ronchi were investigators and contributed to acquisition of data and identifications of eligible patients

Ida Rapa, and Antonina Germano performed immunohistochemistry analysis, the RNA isolation from paraffin embedded tissues and quantitative real time PCR.

Laura Ferrari and Salvatore Grisanti evaluated, analysed, and interpreted the data

Martin Fassnacht and Giorgio Vittorio Scagliotti -performed a critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content

Mauro Papotti -contributed to the study concept and design, performed a critical supervision of the study and revised the manuscript.

All authors reviewed and edited the report.

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Figure legends

Figure 1: Relationship between mRNA and immohistochemical expression of TOP2A a) and TS b) Relationship between TOP2A and TS at protein level c).

Figure 2 - Predictive role of TOP2A and TS expression for the efficacy of adjuvant mitotane. Marker expression is dichotomised at the median value.

Figure 3 - Correlation between markers expression and Clinical Benefit (Partial Response and Disease Stabilization of EDP-M scheme a) -TOP2A, b) - TS, c) - ERCC1, d) - RRM1.

Figure 4 - Relationship between TOP2A expression and time to progression (TTP) in patients treated with EDP-M.

445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457

Table 1- Patients characteristics
CharacteristicsN (%)
No.98
Age, y
Median (range)47 (18-85)
Sex, no. (%)
Male40 (40.8%)
Female58 (59.2%)
ENSAT ACC stage
I11 (11.2%)
II49 (50.0%)
III32 (32.7%)
IV6 (6.1%)
Secreting tumor, no. (%)
Non-secreting tumor51 (52.0%)
Cortisol +/- Androgens30 (30.6%)
Androgens8 (8.2%)
Estradiol3 (3.1%)
Mineralcorticoids4 (4.1%)
Not Available2 (2.0%)
Weiss score
Median (range)5 (3-9)
Adjuvant mitotane, no. (%)
Yes38 (38.8%)
No54 (55.1%)
Patients with recurring ACC, no. (%)64 (65.3%)
Patients who died of ACC progression, no. (%)51 (52.0%)
Table 2 -Relationship of TOP2A and TS gene expression levels with either patient or tumor characteristics. Data are stratified by the median level of gene expression.
Patient and tumor CharacteristicsTOP2A LowTOP2A HighTS LowTS High
Sex
Female33 (67.35%)25 (51.02%)p=0.1030 (62.50%)27 (55.10%)p=0.46
Male16 (32.65%)24 (48.98%)18 (37.50%)22 (44.90%)
Age
≤4725 (51.02%)25 (51.02%)p=126 (54.17%)24 (48.98%)p=0.61
>4724 (48.98%)24 (48.98%)22 (45.83%)25 (51.02%)
Disease Stage
I-II32 (65.31%)28 (57.14%)p=0.4132 (66.67%)27 (55.10%)p=0.24
III-IV17 (34.69%)21 (42.86%)16 (33.33%)22 (44.90%)
Clinical Syndrome
No28 (57.14%)25 (51.02%)p=0.5425 (52.08%)27 (55.10%)p=0.76
Yes21 (42.86%)24 (48.98%)23 (47.92%)22 (44.90%)
Cortisol excessism
No34 (69.39%)34 (69.39%)p=133 (68.75%)34 (69.39%)p=0.94
Yes15 (30.61%)15 (30.61%)15 (31.25%)15 (30.61%)
Weiss Score
≤527 (56.25%)20 (43.48%)p=0.2128 (60.87%)18 (38.30%)p=0.03
>521 (43.75%)26 (56.52%)18 (39.13%)29 (61.70%)
Mitoses
<230/51 (62.5%)21/51 (46.7%)p=0.12
>218/42 (37.5%)24/42 (53.3%)
ERCC1
Low27 (55.10%)24 (48.98%)p=0.5424 (50.00%)27 (55.10%)p=0.61
High22 (44.90%)25 (51.02%)24 (50.00%)22 (44.90%)
RRM1
Low30 (61.22%)19 (38.78%)p=0.02618 (37.50%)31 (63.27%)p=0.011
High19 (38.78%)30 (61.22%)30 (62.50%)18 (36.73%)
TOP2A
Low31 (64.58%)18 (36.73%)p=0.006
High17 (35.42%)31 (63.27%)
TS
Low31 (63.27%)17 (35.42%)p=0.006
High18 (36.73%)31 (64.58%)

15

TOP2A mRNA (ΔΔΟ t)

4

200

TS mRNA (AAC t)

a

b

TS IHC (H-score)

C

3

150

10

2

100-

5

1

50

0

0

0

0

50

100

150

200

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TS IHC (H-score)

TOP2A IHC (H-score)

TOP2A IHC (H-score)

Spearman's R0.46Spearman's R0.52Spearman's R0.45
95% CI0.10 - 0.7295% CI0.22 - 0.7395% CI0.09 - 0.70
P (two-tailed)0.013P (two-tailed)0.001P (two-tailed)0.014

Figure 1

Disease Free Survival

TOP2A highp=0.79
TOP2A lowp=0.20
TS highp=0.26
TS lowP=0.23

0.0 0.25 0,50 0,75 1,0 1,25 1,5 1,75 2,0

Hazard Ratio

Figure 2

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

PD

40%

SD/PR

30%

20%

10%

0%

p=0.0039

Low TOP2A

High TOP2A

Figure 3a

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

PD

40%

SD/PR

30%

20%

10%

0%

p=0.049

Low TS

High TS

Figure 3b

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

PD

40%

SD/PR

30%

20%

10%

0%

p=0.69

Low ERCC1

High ERCC1

Figure 3c

Figure 3d

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

PD

40%

SD/RP

30%

20%

10%

0%

Low RRM1

High RRM1

p=0.42

Cumulative Proportion Progression Free Surviving

1,0

0,9

0,8

TOP 2A mRNA low

- - TOP 2A mRNA high

0,7

0,6

0,5

0,4

0,3

0,2

0,1

0,0

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Months

Figure 4a

1,0

Cumulative Proportion Pregression Free Surviving

0,9

0,8

0,7

IHC TOP2A negative (≤30%)

- - IHC TOP2A positive (>30%)

0,6

0,5

0,4

0,3

0,2

0,1

0,0

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Months

Figure 4b