A radiation-carrying drug cleared brain tumors in animals
Original title: 177Lu-trastuzumab radionuclide therapy: a promising strategy for trastuzumab-resistant brain metastases in HER2+ breast cancer.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was done in animals, not people. Most findings at this stage never become treatments.
This was only tested in cells and animals, not in people.
The short version
In animal tests, a drug that carries radiation cleared brain tumors that another drug could not.
What was studied. Researchers took the breast cancer drug trastuzumab and linked it to a radioactive particle. They tested it on cancer cells and in animals with brain tumors that spread from HER2+ breast cancer.
What they found. The radiation drug killed the cancer cells even when plain trastuzumab did not. In animals, brain tumors went away fully in 40% of treated animals. Scans showed the drug reached only some tumors, and no nerve damage was seen.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: This is an early hint of a new way to treat brain tumors from HER2+ breast cancer. Brain tumors happen in up to 30% of people with this cancer once it spreads. A scan might one day show whose tumors the drug can reach.
What it doesn't mean: This work was done in cells and in animals, not in people. It is not a cure, and it is not proof that it works in humans. No patient can get this treatment today. It would first need trials in people to check safety and benefit. That takes years.
Source: PubMed, September 14, 2026 · Read the original
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