Enrichment of HER2 Amplification in Brain Metastases from Primary Gastrointestinal Malignancies.

CONCLUSION: In this cohort of patients with GI cancer with brain metastases, HER2+ status was more common intracranially compared with prior sites of disease. These findings suggest that testing HER2 in patients with GI cancer with brain metastases may lead to additional therapeutic options, regardless of HER2 status in previously examined tissue.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: HER2 amplification is a well-known driver of oncogenesis in breast cancer, with associated increased risk of brain metastases and response to HER2-directed therapy. In nongastric gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, HER2 amplification is not common and consequently is infrequently tested. The current study shows that brain metastases in patients with GI primary malignancies have a relatively high likelihood of being HER2 positive despite HER2 amplification or overexpression being less commonly found in matched tissue from prior sites of disease. This suggests that regardless of prior molecular testing, patients with GI cancer with brain metastases who have tissue available are likely to benefit from HER2 assessment to identify potential novel therapeutic options.
PMID: 30373904 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: The Oncologist - October 29, 2018 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Mitra D, Clark JW, Shih HA, Oh KS, Brastianos PK, Wo JY, Strickland MR, Curry WT, Parikh AR, Corcoran RB, Ryan DP, Iafrate AJ, Borger DR, Lennerz JK, Hong TS Tags: Oncologist Source Type: research