‘Makes us very hopeful’: New U of M study shows promising treatment for brain tumours from breast cancer

An existing cancer drug is offering new hope for those with metastatic brain tumours leads MedicalWatch for April 15, 2025.

A University of Manitoba study has eliminated brain tumours in mice with a certain type of breast cancer, bringing new hopes for future treatments.

The study, recently published in the journal Cancer Research, found that poziotinib, a drug already approved to treat other cancers, reduced breast cancer brain metastasis tumours in HER2-positive cases.

“It makes us very hopeful,” said Dr. Sabine Hombach-Klonisch, head of the department of human anatomy and cell science at the U of M’s Max Rady College of Medicine and lead author of the study. “We hope that this will help patients and that this drug will get into clinical trials for patients with breast cancer brain metastasis.”

Roughly half of all patients experience brain metastasis in HER2-positive breast cancer cases, which can spread to the brain years after treatment.

“This research is important because many patients with breast cancer are waiting with uncertainty, not knowing if brain metastases will occur and whether there will be a drug that’s effective in treating it,” Hombach-Klonisch said.

One of the issues with finding drugs to treat it is that cancer drugs that may work in other parts of the body don’t work in the brain, as they can’t penetrate the brain/blood barrier in high enough concentrations.

The study said 8,500 drugs were tested on mice until poziotinib was found to be effective on mice.

The next step is possible clinical trials, as well as further research on tumour growth and treatment, Hombach-Klonisch said.

The study was funded by the Cancer Research Society in partnership with CancerCare Manitoba and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.