Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0278488 (metastatic breast cancer)
 7,812 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Herceptin is a humanized monoclonal antibody targeted against the extracellular domain of the HER2 oncogene, which is amplified and overexpressed in 10-34% of breast cancers. Herceptin therapy provides effective treatment in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, although a favorable treatment response is not achieved in all cases. Here, we show that Herceptin treatment induces a dose-dependent growth reduction in breast cancer cell lines with HER2 amplification, whereas nonamplified cell lines are practically resistant. Time-course analysis of global gene expression patterns in amplified and nonamplified cell lines indicated a major change in transcript levels between 24 and 48 h of Herceptin treatment. A step-wise gene selection algorithm revealed a set of 439 genes whose temporal expression profiles differed most between the amplified and nonamplified cell lines. The discriminatory power of these genes was confirmed by both hierarchical clustering and self-organizing map analyses. In the amplified cell lines, the Herceptin treatment induced the expression of several genes involved in RNA processing and DNA repair, while cell adhesion mediators and known oncogenes, such as c-FOS and c-KIT, were downregulated. These results provide additional clues to the downstream effects of blocking the HER2 pathway in breast cancer and may provide new targets for more effective treatment.
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PMID:Effects of Herceptin treatment on global gene expression patterns in HER2-amplified and nonamplified breast cancer cell lines. 1464 48

A growing body of evidence indicates that interactions between neoplastic cells and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in the tumor microenvironment (TME) are crucial in promoting tumor cell invasion and progression. Macrophages have an ambiguous role in these processes as this M1 phenotype correlates with tumoricidal capacity, whereas TAMs of M2 phenotype exert tumor-promoting effects. In this study, we provide evidence that interactions between mouse breast tumor cells and TAMs remodel the TME, leading to the upregulation of Fra-1, a member of the FOS family of transcription factor. In turn, this proto-oncogene initiates activation of the IL-6/JAK/Stat3 signaling pathway. This creates a malignant switch in breast tumor cells, leading to increased release of proangiogenic factors MMP-9, vascular endothelial growth factor and transforming growth factor-beta from tumor cells and intensified invasion and progression of breast cancer. Proof of the concept for the crucial role played by transcription factor Fra-1 in regulating these processes was established by specific knockdown of Fra-1 with small interfering RNA, which resulted in a marked suppression of tumor cell invasion, angiogenesis and metastasis in a mouse breast cancer model. Such a strategy could eventually lead to future efficacious treatments of metastatic breast cancer.
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PMID:The role of proto-oncogene Fra-1 in remodeling the tumor microenvironment in support of breast tumor cell invasion and progression. 1996 54