Metastatic, trastuzumab-refractory HER2+ breast cancer patients were treated with lapatinib and a HER2-based cancer vaccine (a recombinant protein with extracellular domain and part of the intracellular domain of HER2 combined with an adjuvant) concurrently based on success in a preclinical model. The gene discussed is ERBB2; the disease is breast carcinoma.