Scientists from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute presented some stirring news at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in June.
The researchers, reporting the results of a clinical trial, said that the drug lapatinib (also known as Tykerb) shrank tumors and slowed progression of brain metastases (or "mets") in some patients with advanced breast cancer.
This is exciting because up until now there have been no chemotherapies or targeted biologic therapies that could cross the blood-brain barrier and fight cancers that have spread to the brain. (And by the way, lapatinib is given orally — an additional plus.)
"Results of this study indicate that lapatinib, when given alone, has modest but real activity against brain metastases in women who have had multiple prior treatments for their breast cancer," said Dana-Farber's Nancy Lin, M.D., the study's lead author. The researchers said the drug should now undergo further testing in combination with other drugs as a treatment for breast cancer that has spread to the brain.
Statistics are showing that about 30 percent to 40 percent of women who are Her2neu-positive and are treated with Herceptin develop brain mets. These mets aren't caused by the drug, but rather are a consequence of the disease's progression. Prior to now, there was really nothing to offer these women, other than radiation therapy to the brain to slow down the growth of these types of metastatic tumors.
The researchers went on to say that, in 6 percent of the patients who participated in the study, the brain tumors shrank significantly in what was termed a "partial response."
For these patients, there was a period averaging 15 weeks before the disease started progressing again. And about one-fifth of the patients taking lapatinib did not experience any worsening of their disease for six months or longer.
Though to some these gains may seem modest, if you or a loved one is dealing with brain mets from breast cancer and is her3neu-positive, they are truly heaven-sent. The longer we can keep the disease under control, the longer someone can live.