Robust and Interpretable PAM50 Reclassification Exhibits Survival Advantage for Myoepithelial and Immune Phenotypes

We introduce a classification of breast tumors into 7 classes which are more clearly defined by interpretable mRNA signatures along the PAM50 gene set than the 5 traditional PAM50 intrinsic subtypes. Each intrinsic subtype is partially concordant with one of our classes, and the 2 additional classes correspond to division of the classes concordant with the Luminal B and the Normal intrinsic subtypes along expression of the Her2 gene group. Our Normal class shows similarity with the myoepithelial mammary cell phenotype, including TP63 expression (specificity: 80.8% and sensitivity: 82.8%), and exhibits the best overall survival (89.6% at 5 years). Though Luminal A tumors are traditionally considered the least aggressive, our analysis shows that only the Luminal A tumors which are now classified as myoepithelial have this phenotype, while tumors in our luminal class (concordant with Luminal A) may be more aggressive than previously thought. We also find that patients with Basal tumors surviving to 48 months exhibit favorable survival rates when certain markers for B-lymphocytes are present and poor survival rates when they are absent, which is consistent with recent findings.