DURHAM, N.C. – In animal studies led by researchers at Duke Cancer Institute, a drug approved to treat leukemia successfully disrupted the ability of HER2-positive breast cancer tumors from colonizing the brain.

The finding, appearing online Aug. 30 in the journal Cell Reports, provides evidence for human trials and suggests a potential new approach to derail one of the main ways that breast cancer turns deadly.

“We have made huge strides in treating HER2-positive breast cancers, but when tumors escape the therapies, they often metastasize to the brain,” said senior author Ann Marie Pendergast, Ph.D., professor and vice chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University School of Medicine.