Circadian pattern subtyping unveiling distinct immune landscapes in breast cancer patients for better immunotherapy

Abstract

Background: While epidemiological studies have established a firm link between circadian disruption and tumorigenesis, the role and mechanism are not fully understood, complicating the design of therapeutic targets related to circadian rhythms (CR). Here, we aimed to explore the intertumoral heterogeneity of CR and elucidate its impact on the tumor microenvironment (TME), drug sensitivity, and immunotherapy.

Methods: Based on unsupervised clustering of 28 CR genes, two distinct CR subtypes (cluster-A and cluster-B) were identified in the TCGA cohort. We further constructed a circadian rhythm signature (CRS) based on the CR genes primarily responsible for clustering to quantify CR activity and to distinguish CR subtypes of individual patients from external datasets. CR subtypes were evaluated by TME characteristics, functional annotation, clinical features, and therapeutic response.

Results: The cluster-B (low-CRS) group was characterized by highly enriched immune-related pathways, high immune cell infiltration, and high anti-tumor immunity, while the cluster-A (high-CRS) group was associated with immunosuppression, synaptic transmission pathways, EMT activation, poor prognosis, and drug resistance. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) results demonstrated that high CD8⁺ T cell infiltration was associated with low-CR-protein expression. Importantly, patients with low CRS were more likely to benefit from immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) treatment, possibly due to their higher tumor mutation burden (TMB), increased immune checkpoint expression, and higher proportion of "hot" immunophenotype.

Conclusion: In a nutshell, the cross talk in CR could reflect the TME immunoreactivity in breast cancer. Besides providing the first comprehensive pathway-level analysis of CR in breast cancer, this work highlights the potential clinical utility of CR for immunotherapy.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Circadian rhythm; Immune checkpoint; Immunotherapy; Tumor microenvironment.