1. HER2 and uPAR cooperativity contribute to metastatic phenotype of HER2-positive breast cancer
- Author
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Kara L. Vine, Vineesh Indira Chandran, Thejaswini Venkatesh, Marie Ranson, and Serenella Eppenberger-Castori
- Subjects
Cancer Research ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Cooperativity ,Review ,Bioinformatics ,Targeted therapy ,uPAR/PLAUR ,Breast cancer ,Downregulation and upregulation ,medicine ,Receptor ,skin and connective tissue diseases ,HER2-positive breast cancer ,neoplasms ,business.industry ,medicine.disease ,co-overexpression ,HER2/ERBB2 ,Urokinase receptor ,Oncology ,correlation ,Cancer research ,co-amplification ,Stem cell ,Breast carcinoma ,business - Abstract
Human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2)-positive breast carcinoma is highly aggressive and mostly metastatic in nature though curable/manageable in part by molecular targeted therapy. Recent evidence suggests a subtype of cells within HER2-positive breast tumors that concomitantly expresses the urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) with inherent stem cell/mesenchymal-like properties promoting tumor cell motility and a metastatic phenotype. This HER-positive/uPAR-positive subtype may be partially responsible for the failure of HER2-targeted treatment strategies. Herein we discuss and substantiate the cumulative preclinical and clinical evidence on HER2-uPAR cooperativity in terms of gene co-amplification and/or mRNA/protein co-overexpression. We then propose a regulatory signaling model that we hypothesize to maintain upregulation and cooperativity between HER2 and uPAR in aggressive breast cancer. An improved understanding of the HER2/uPAR interaction in breast cancer will provide critical biomolecular information that may help better predict disease course and response to therapy.
- Published
- 2015