Promising drug for treating brain tumors stemming from breast cancer
Mays Cancer Center Annual Report
“We knew that the drug has been effective in the treatment of breast cancer, but its usefulness in the treatment of resulting brain tumors has been unclear. Our trial, however, revealed that it could achieve concentrations of inhibitors inside the tumors sufficient to benefit patients, and with minimal side effects, which is very promising for new therapy.”
– Andrew L. Brenner, MD, PhD, professor and chair of neuro-oncology research at Mays Cancer Center
A Mays Cancer Center clinical trial revealed a drug that shows promise in treating brain tumors that progress from metastatic breast cancer.
Usually used for treating breast cancer, the drug (sacituzumab govitecan) was effective in treating breast cancer with brain metastases or recurrent glioblastoma and caused few side effects. Patients participated in a “window trial,” or one in which patients agree to be treated with a novel drug to test how it affects their treatment before undergoing surgery.
Sacituzumab govitecan (SG) is a drug designed as a targeted therapy to treat cancer. It targets and destroys tumor cells directly while sparing healthy cells.
Andrew J. Brenner, MD, PhD, professor and chair of neuro-oncology research with Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio, was lead author of the trial’s study published in Nature Communications, titled, “Sacituzumab govitecan in patients with breast cancer brain metastases and recurrent glioblastoma: a phase 0 window-of-opportunity trial.“ He is also a clinical investigator for the Institute for Drug Development at Mays Cancer Center and co-leader of its Experimental and Development Therapeutics Program.
Meeting a pressing need
About half of all women with this aggressive and advanced triple-negative form of breast cancer will be diagnosed with brain metastases. The prognosis is usually poor, with a median overall survival rate of just over seven months. Brain tumors stemming from breast cancer are common. Treatment usually involves radiotherapy, surgery and systemic therapies, which are often unsuccessful. Also, glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and aggressive primary brain malignancy in adults and has poor survival rates. For those reasons, there has been an unmet need to address breast cancer with brain metastasis and recurrent glioblastoma multiforme. Treatment of both primary and secondary brain tumors is limited by many factors.
About the clinical trial
The Mays Cancer Center clinical trial included 25 patients aged 18 or older who had been diagnosed with breast cancer with brain metastases or recurrent glioblastoma. Each received a single intravenous dose of the drug one day before surgery. They then were given doses on days one and eight of 21-day cycles after recovery.
Patients with breast cancer with brain metastases continued treatment for eight months. Those with recurrent glioblastoma did so for two months.
According to researchers, “The drug was well-tolerated in this population with promising clinical signals of efficacy.”
Ongoing research
Given the results, there is currently a phase 2 clinical trial to further investigate the use of SG in recurrent glioblastoma at UT Health San Antonio.
“We expect it will shed further light on the possible effectiveness of SG in treating glioblastoma,” said William Kelly, MD, neuro-oncologist with Mays Cancer Center and assistant professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at UT Health San Antonio and principal investigator of the phase 2 trial.
