Nature article on HER2

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ErbB2 Inhibitor Delays Breast Cancer Growth, Protects Against Metastasis



NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 31 - Deficiency or inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) increases breast tumor latency and inhibits lung metastasis, Canadian researchers report in a January 28th advance online publication of Nature Genetics.

Dr. Sofi G. Julien at McGill University in Montreal and colleagues are working on an anti-PTP1B treatment that they are testing in mouse models of ErbB2-induced breast cancers.

The ErbB2 oncogene, also known as Neu, it encodes a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) belonging to the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which is amplified in breast cancers. ErbB2 is found in approximately 25% of all breast cancers. A deletion in the Neu extracellular domain 2' (NDL2) leads to breast tumors with a high metastatic potential to the lung.

Dr. Julien and colleagues have found that deletion of PTP1B activity in the NDL2 transgenic mice, either by breeding or through treatment with a PTP1B inhibitor, resulted in "significant mammary tumor latency and resistance to lung metastasis." Overexpression of PTP1B resulted in spontaneous breast cancer development.

The researchers say that their findings have "therapeutic implications, and we propose that individuals with ErbB2-positive breast cancer might benefit from pharmacological inhibition of PTP1B activity in combination with anti-ErbB2 therapies."

Nat Gen 2007.