A combination of a “targeted” therapy and chemotherapy shrank metastatic brain tumors by at least 50 percent in one-fifth of patients with aggressive HER2-positive breast cancer, according to data presented by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Lapatinib (Tykerb) and capecitabine (Xeloda) were paired in an extension of a Phase 2 clinical trial in which lapatinib given alone shrank brain metastases significantly in six percent of 241 patients.
In the extension trial, capecitabine was added to lapatinib in 49 patients whose metastases—cancerous colonies in the brain spread from their primary cancer—had progressed while on treatment. With the combination therapy, brain metastases shrank by 20 percent or more in 18 patients (37 percent) and shrank by at least 50 percent in 10 patients (20 percent), reported Nancy Lin, MD, of Dana-Farber’s Breast Oncology Center.
“Very few medications have shown activity in the treatment of brain metastases, particularly in HER-2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients,” said Lin, who led the study with Eric Winer, MD, director of the Dana-Farber Breast Oncology Center. “Therefore, these data are quite encouraging, and further studies are warranted.”
Release date: December 17, 2007
Source: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Filed Under: Drug Discovery
