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Old 06-18-2020, 12:47 PM   #1
Lani
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Thumbs up Tucatinib Is Active Against Brain Metastases in HER2+ Breast Cancer





Research Watch
Tucatinib Is Active Against Brain Metastases in HER2+ Breast Cancer






DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-RW2020-087









  • Major Finding: The small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor tucatinib outperformed placebo against brain metastases.
  • Concept: Adding tucatinib to trastuzumab plus capecitabine extended overall survival by more than six months.
  • Impact: Although exploratory, this work shows the promise of tucatinib for brain-metastatic HER2+ disease.


Brain metastases, which arise in half of patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer, are difficult to treat and a major cause of mortality. Lin and colleagues conducted exploratory analyses on a subset of data from the randomized, controlled, double-blinded HER2CLIMB trial, specifically focusing their investigation on the utility of the small-molecule oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor tucatinib in patients with brain-metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. Among the 612 patients enrolled in the HER2CLIMB trial, 291 (48%) had brain metastases or a history of brain metastases; these 291 patients were the subject of this work. Most of these patients (87.3%) had undergone prior treatment for their brain metastases, including surgery and/or whole-brain or targeted radiation therapy. With regard to overall survival (OS), the results in the tucatinib arm (tucatinib plus the HER2 antibody trastuzumab and the cytotoxic chemotherapy drug capecitabine) were superior to those in the control arm (placebo plus trastuzumab and capecitabine), with median OS values of 18.1 months in the tucatinib group and 12.0 months in the control group. Importantly, the survival benefit of tucatinib was mostly seen in the 174 patients with active brain metastases, in whom the median OS was 20.7 months with tucatinib versus 11.6 months with placebo; in the 117 patients with stable brain metastases, the median OS was 15.7 months with tucatinib versus 13.6 months with placebo. However, tucatinib showed signs of central nervous system (CNS) activity in both groups, with CNS progression-free survival being 9.9 months with tucatinib versus 4.2 months with placebo among all patients, 9.5 months versus 4.1 months among patients with active brain metastases, and 13.9 months versus 5.6 months in patients with stable brain metastases. Although limited by its exploratory nature, this analysis supports the notion that tucatinib is an agent of interest in specifically treating brain metastases in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, a topic worth investigating prospectively in future trials.
Lin NU, Borges V, Anders C, Murthy RK, Paplomata E, Hamilton E, et al. Intracranial efficacy and survival with tucatinib plus trastuzumab and capecitabine for previously treated HER2-positive breast cancer with brain metastases in the HER2CLIMB trial. Jour Clin Oncol 2020 May 29 [Epub ahead of print].
Notes

Note: Research Watch is written by Cancer Discovery editorial staff. Readers are encouraged to consult the original articles for full details. For more Research Watch, visit Cancer Discovery online

























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Old 06-18-2020, 02:58 PM   #2
donocco
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Re: Tucatinib Is Active Against Brain Metastases in HER2+ Breast Cancer

Imteresting.
One thing about Tucatanib surprised me when I looked at the package insert. It can cause severe diarrhea. When it first was being researched they didn't think it would because it wasn't supposed to inhibit the epidermal growth factor receptor, just the Her 2 neu receptor. Still the fact that it is effective against brain mets is exciting news.

Other Tukasyn side effects are liver damage (possible) fatigue. hand foot syndrome, anorexia and stomatitis, vomiting and diarrhea The dose is 300mg every 12 hours.

Paul
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Old 06-25-2020, 12:20 PM   #3
donocco
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Re: Tucatinib Is Active Against Brain Metastases in HER2+ Breast Cancer

They don't use Tucatanib alone. It is combined with Xeloda 1000mg per square meter twice a day.

I learned a quick formula for determining Body Surface Area in pharmacy school long ago. Multiply your height in inches times your weight in pounds and divide this number by 3,131. Then take the square root of this number snd you have a pretty good approximation of your body surface area. Some might find this formula useful as many drugs are given in mg /square meter.

BSA= body weight in pounds X height in inches divided by 3131, and take the square root of the this final number.

Hope this comes in handy

Paul
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Old 09-30-2020, 05:15 PM   #4
mamacze
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Re: Tucatinib Is Active Against Brain Metastases in HER2+ Breast Cancer

It is heartening to read of a drug for brain mets that increases OFS by 6 months; not bad efficacy.
Thanks for posting Lani! It is great to see you are still active on the message boards.
Kim from CT
__________________
2001 - Stage 0, lumpectomy, radiation, tamoxifen

2004 - Stage 4, mets to 4 lobes of lungs and liver, lumpectomy, er/pr -, her2 neu+++, Herceptin and Navelbine then Herceptin only.

2005 - Breast Ca vaccinations with the Tumor Vaccine Group in Seattle

2011 - Still Herceptin only and NED


2011, June - STOPPED Herceptin and kicked up my heels!

2012, February - 1 small tumor came back to haunt me in my lungs - back on Herceptin only, tumor stable.


2015, November - tumor on lungs removed (Segmentectomy), back on Herceptin only
Received U of W vaccine clinical "booster" Vaccine


2022 On Herceptin and NED continues - WOOT WOOT!
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Old 09-16-2021, 09:11 AM   #5
annettchen
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Re: Tucatinib Is Active Against Brain Metastases in HER2+ Breast Cancer

Not sure this is the right thread - please feel free to reposition as needed. Just wanted to cross-post / share from social media, because there's not much positive around for us younger (relatively) people with brain mets from MBC - I hope something a little positive may help give hope.
Here goes: I just had my second craniotomy last week - pathology came back yesterday - it was all necrosis, no new growth more than a year after my first surgery and radiation to the same area. I wanted to share my truth - I know that reading stuff that starts with "Traditional treatment options have minimal efficacy, and overall survival is on the order of months." is bleak indeed. But: my first brain mets were discovered in early 2015 (MBC with limited bone mets had been diagnosed in Feb 2014) - my daughter had just turned 6. She will be 13 this coming December! In case you are wondering: no I did not do anything special. I work full time (home office, from before Covid). I do pottery. I have a horse and ride (not right now, though). I eat sugar. I ski (when Covid does not prevent it), I try to travel as much as I can. The only thing I did differently (but not at all sure whether there's any impact), is that I started taking methadone in addition to regular treatments (Herceptin/ Perjeta / Xgeva / radiation, FUS). I have been at this long enough to know this is not "the cure". I am not a medical miracle - I'm just lucky and wanted to share it. Don't let anyone give you a "best by" date - NO ONE knows. Hang in there! If there is anyone here that might be interested in the FUS I mentioned earlier - prior to Covid, I participated in a phase 1 trial for a treatment that intends to temporarily dissolve the blood brain barrier in a targeted way so that more active agent can reach the location of brain metastases when needed. In my case, since I live in Canada, the trial was in Toronto (Sunnybrook). It was temporarily discontinued because of Covid, but I have heard they are back up and running (not sure they are looking for patients - here's the website: https://sunnybrook.ca/research/conte...d-brain-tumour). Just wanted to share - I am not much active online any more (used to spend hours online when I was first diagnosed, but somehow feel I need to live more, post less... sorry...) I will try follow up occasionally in case questions come up, though...
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----------------------------------------
03/2014: Diagnosed with ER/PR-, HER2+++ MBC (bone mets, oligometastatic)
04/2014: Started 6 cycles of "PHD" (Perjeta, Herceptin, Docetaxol)
07/2014: Finished 6 cycles of PHD; restaging; 2 bone mets are sclerotic - looks like Herceptin and Perjeta is working
10/2014: STABLE!
01/2015: STABLE!
04/2015: STABLE!
08/2015: STABLE!
12/2015: BRAIN METS. BODY STABLE.
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