Treatment of brain metastases from HER-2-positive breast cancer: current status and new concepts

Breast cancer is the second most common source of brain metastases (BM). The incidence of BM in breast cancer patients has increased over the past decade, especially among patients with HER-2-positive breast cancer. This is probably due to how aggressive the HER-2-positive disease is but also to the prolongation of survival obtained with current treatments, which allow good control of extracranial disease but are unable to cross the blood-brain barrier. At present, whole-brain radiotherapy, surgery and radiosurgery/stereotactic radiotherapy represent the cornerstone of treatment for BM, while the role of pharmacological therapy remains uncertain. Lapatinib demonstrated activity against BM from HER-2-positive breast cancer in small Phase II and retrospective studies, mainly in combination with capecitabine, and cases of dramatic responses to such treatment are present in literature. In this review we focus on the available clinical data regarding the treatment of BM from HER-2-positive breast cancer and on new concepts about the treatment and evaluation of the CNS response.