A novel immune subtype classification of ER-positive, PR-negative and HER2-negative breast cancer based on the genomic and transcriptomic landscape

BACKGROUND: The diversity and plasticity behind ER+/PR−/HER2− breast cancer have not been widely explored. It is essential to identify heterogeneous microenvironment phenotypes and investigate specific genomic events driving the formation of these phenotypes. METHODS: Based on the immune-related gene expression profiles of 411 ER+/PR−/HER2− breast cancers in the METABRIC cohort, we used consensus clustering to identify heterogeneous immune subtypes and assessed their reproducibility in an independent meta-cohort including 135 patients collected from GEO database. We further analyzed the differences of cellular and molecular characteristics, and potential immune escape mechanism among immune subtypes. In addition, we constructed a transcriptional trajectory to visualize the distribution of individual patient. RESULTS: Our analysis identified and validated five reproducible immune subtypes with distinct cellular and molecular characteristics, potential immune escape mechanisms, genomic drivers, as well as clinical outcomes. An immune-cold subtype, with the least amount of lymphocyte infiltration, had a poorer prognosis. By contrast, an immune-hot subtype, which demonstrated the highest infiltration of CD8+ T cells, DCs and NK cells, and elevated IFN-γ response, had a comparatively favorable prognosis. Other subtypes showed more diverse gene expression and immune infiltration patterns with distinct clinical outcomes. Finally, our analysis revealed a complex immune landscape consisting of both discrete cluster and continuous spectrum. CONCLUSION: Overall, this study revealed five heterogeneous immune subtypes among ER+/PR–/HER2− breast cancer, also provided important implications for clinical translations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12967-021-03076-x.