Skip to main content
Log in

Long-Term Survivor with Intrathecal and Intravenous Trastuzumab Treatment in Metastatic Breast Cancer

  • Therapy in Practice
  • Published:
Targeted Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We report the case of a woman with metastatic breast cancer receiving intrathecal trastuzumab (and intravenous trastuzumab for more than 7 years). She was diagnosed in 2001 with a duct invasive breast cancer T3N1M0 HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2)-positive +++ HR (hormone receptor) -negative. She received chemotherapy and then she had a mastectomy. Several metastases were discovered and treated from 2003 to 2008 with chemotherapy. In March 2010, brain metastases and a leptomeningeal carcinomatosis from her HER2-positive breast cancer appeared. From that moment on she received intravenous trastuzumab (6 mg/kg) every 3 weeks, intrathecal trastuzumab (21 mg) weekly for 16 injections and lapatinib. Intrathecal trastuzumab was stopped because of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) clearing. Intrathecal trastuzumab was injected again from December 2013 for 14 injections. The relevance of treating leptomeningeal carcinomatosis with intrathecal trastuzumab administration is shown through this case report.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Dawood S, Broglio K, Buzdar AU, Hortobagyi GN, Giordano SH. Prognosis of women with metastatic breast cancer by HER2 status and trastuzumab treatment: an institutional-based review. J Clin Oncol Off J Am Soc Clin Oncol. 2010;28(1):92–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Slamon DJ, Leyland-Jones B, Shak S, Fuchs H, Paton V, Bajamonde A, et al. Use of chemotherapy plus a monoclonal antibody against HER2 for metastatic breast cancer that overexpresses HER2. N Engl J Med. 2001;344(11):783–92.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Dumitrescu C, Lossignol D. Intrathecal Trastuzumab Treatment of the Neoplastic Meningitis due to Breast Cancer: A Case Report and Review of the Literature. Case Rep Oncol Med. 2013;2013:154674.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Gutierrez M, Lyazidi S, Brasseur L, Cvitkovic F, Le Scodan R. Leptomeningeal meningitis related to breast cancer overexpressing HER2: is there a place for a more specific treatment? Bull Cancer (Paris). 2011;98(4):417–24.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Mir O, Ropert S, Alexandre J, Lemare F, Goldwasser F. High-dose intrathecal trastuzumab for leptomeningeal metastases secondary to HER-2 overexpressing breast cancer. Ann Oncol Off J Eur Soc Med Oncol ESMO. 2008;19(11):1978–80.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Pestalozzi BC, Brignoli S. Trastuzumab in CSF. J Clin Oncol Off J Am Soc Clin Oncol. 2000;18(11):2349–51.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Stemmler H-J, Schmitt M, Willems A, Bernhard H, Harbeck N, Heinemann V. Ratio of trastuzumab levels in serum and cerebrospinal fluid is altered in HER2-positive breast cancer patients with brain metastases and impairment of blood–brain barrier. Anticancer Drugs. 2007;18(1):23–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Cooper PR, Ciambrone GJ, Kliwinski CM, Maze E, Johnson L, Li Q, et al. Efflux of monoclonal antibodies from rat brain by neonatal Fc receptor, FcRn. Brain Res. 2013;1534:13–21.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Bousquet G, Darrouzain F, de Bazelaire C, Ternant D, Barranger E, Winterman S, et al. Intrathecal Trastuzumab Halts Progression of CNS Metastases in Breast Cancer. J Clin Oncol Off J Am Soc Clin Oncol. 2014.

  10. Stemmler H-J, Mengele K, Schmitt M, Harbeck N, Laessig D, Herrmann KA, et al. Intrathecal trastuzumab (Herceptin) and methotrexate for meningeal carcinomatosis in HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer: a case report. Anticancer Drugs sept. 2008;19(8):832–6.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Lombardi G, Zustovich F, Farina P, Della Puppa A, Manara R, Cecchin D, et al. Neoplastic meningitis from solid tumors: new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Oncologist. 2011;16(8):1175–88.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Stemmler HJ, Schmitt M, Harbeck N, Willems A, Bernhard H, Lässig D, et al. Application of intrathecal trastuzumab (Herceptintrade mark) for treatment of meningeal carcinomatosis in HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer. Oncol Rep. 2006;15(5):1373–7.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Oliveira M, Braga S, Passos-Coelho JL, Fonseca R, Oliveira J. Complete response in HER2+ leptomeningeal carcinomatosis from breast cancer with intrathecal trastuzumab. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2011;127(3):841–4.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Boogerd W, van den Bent MJ, Koehler PJ, Heimans JJ, van der Sande JJ, Aaronson NK, et al. The relevance of intraventricular chemotherapy for leptomeningeal metastasis in breast cancer: a randomised study. Eur J Cancer Oxf Engl 1990. 2004;40(18):2726–33.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Gauthier H, Guilhaume MN, Bidard FC, Pierga JY, Girre V, Cottu PH, et al. Survival of breast cancer patients with meningeal carcinomatosis. Ann Oncol Off J Eur Soc Med Oncol ESMO. 2010;21(11):2183–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Rudnicka H, Niwińska A, Murawska M. Breast cancer leptomeningeal metastasis--the role of multimodality treatment. J Neurooncol. 2007;84(1):57–62.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Baculi RH, Suki S, Nisbett J, Leeds N, Groves M. Meningeal carcinomatosis from breast carcinoma responsive to trastuzumab. J Clin Oncol Off J Am Soc Clin Oncol. 2001;19(13):3297–8.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Zagouri F, Sergentanis TN, Bartsch R, Berghoff AS, Chrysikos D, de Azambuja E, et al. Intrathecal administration of trastuzumab for the treatment of meningeal carcinomatosis in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer: a systematic review and pooled analysis. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2013;139(1):13–22.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Emmanuelle JACQUET participated in the writing and reviewing of clinical and biological data. Mireille MOUSSEAU and Dominique CHARLETY helped with the writing, gave advice about it and gave final approval of the version. Benoît ALLENET and Pierrick BEDOUCH approved this version. I would like to thank them all.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to H. Pluchart.

Ethics declarations

Funding

None.

Conflicts of Interest

Hélène PLUCHART, Emmanuelle JACQUET, Domnique CHARLETY, Benoît ALLENET, Pierrick BEDOUCH and Mireille MOUSSEAU declare no conflict of interest.

Consent

Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report and accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the Editor-in-Chief of this journal.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pluchart, H., Jacquet, E., Charlety, D. et al. Long-Term Survivor with Intrathecal and Intravenous Trastuzumab Treatment in Metastatic Breast Cancer. Targ Oncol 11, 687–691 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11523-016-0429-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11523-016-0429-6

Keywords

Navigation