Trastuzumab (herceptin) and pertuzumab (Omnitarg, 2C4) are recombinant humanized monoclonal antibodies that target different extracellular regions of the HER-2 tyrosine kinase receptor. We explored combination effects of these agents in the HER-2-overexpressing BT474 breast cancer cell line. Trastuzumab and 2C4 synergistically inhibited the survival of BT474 cells, in part, because of increased...

The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2/neu) is a biomarker, recognized as a valuable prognostic and predictive factor for breast cancer. In approximately 20% of primary breast cancers, the HER2/neu protein is over-expressed. The effect of this over-expression is an increase in receptor mediated intracellular signalling, directing the cancer cells into fast proliferation, which resu...

PI3K: Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase; Akt or PKB: Protein Kinase B; cAMP: Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate; ATP: Adenosine Triphosphate; NFκB: Nuclear Factor Kappa B; APC: Adenomatous Polyposis Coli; GEO: Gene Expression Omnibus; GI: Gastrointestinal; EGFR: Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor; HER2: Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2; AURKA: Aurora kinase A; IP3: Inositol Triphosphate; PLC: Phospho...

• Trastuzumab (Herceptin) directed against the HER-2 receptor and approved for treatment of metastatic breast cancer • Cetuximab (Erbitux) and panitumumab (Vectibix) directed against the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and approved for treatment of e.g. colorectal cancer • Bevacizumab (avastin) directed against the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and approved for treatment of ...

OBJECTIVE Apocrine carcinoma, a subtype of invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast, expresses androgen receptor (AR), but often lacks estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR). In the present study, the author immunohistochemically defined apocrine-type carcinoma as ER-/PgR-/AR+ invasive ductal carcinoma and analyzed the significance of apocrine-type carcinoma as triple-negative br...

Background: Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) has a crucial role in several malignancies. The extracellular domain of HER2 (HER2-ECD) has been extensively employed as an important target in passive and active immunotherapy. Isolated recombinant prokaryotic HER2-ECD subdomains were previously found to be ineffective in inducing anti-tumor antibody response. Objective: To employ rec...

OBJECTIVE We investigated the pathological effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy based on the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 in operable breast cancer. METHODS This prospective clinical study was a pilot involving 63 female patients. Before surgery, patients with tumors overexpressing human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 received four cycles of 60 mg/m(2) anthracycline and 600 mg/...