Breast Cancer Subtypes Predict Brain Tumors

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- One third of breast cancer patients whose cancer metastasizes, or spreads, will develop brain cancer. Now there may be a way to predict which breast cancer patients are most likely to survive brain metastasis.

Researchers from the National Cancer Center in the Republic of Korea found three specific breast cancer receptors -- estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth receptor-2 (HER2) -- play a key role in determining both the likelihood and prognosis of brain metastasis.

In a study of 126 patients with brain metastasis from a pool of 805 patients diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, researchers found those who tested negative for ER, PR and HER2 or were HER2 positive and ER negative were most at risk for developing brain metastasis. Patients who fell into these two categories were also found to have a shorter survival time than patients who were ER or PR positive and HER2 negative.

“We now need to develop ways to screen for these subtypes and find the best ways to manage patients with this more aggressive phenotype,” study authors wrote.

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SOURCE: Breast Cancer Research, 2008;10:R20