New Targeted Therapies for Brain Metastases from Breast and Lung Cancer and Melanoma

Introduction

Brain metastases (BM) are an important cause of morbidity and mortality and represent the most common intracranial tumors in adults, occurring in ∼20–30% of cancer patients ( ; ). With advances in diagnostic techniques and improvements in the treatment of systemic disease, the incidence of BM is increasing ( ). Regardless of the treatment, the outcome of patients with BM remains poor. The latter provides a strong clinical rationale for the use of novel therapies in these patients. Recent developments in the field of tumor biology have elucidated signaling pathways and genes involved in the development of BM, which represent new potential therapeutic targets, and several targeted therapies are currently being tested in clinical trials.