Breast cancers called “triple negative” and “basal-like” are particularly aggressive subtypes of breast cancer, with fewer treatment options.
Our results, just published in the journal “Cancers“, suggest that in these tumor subtypes the activation of a cellular signaling pathway composed by the growth factor Neuregulin and the ERBB3 and ERBB2 receptors may confer to cancer cells an increased ability to grow in absence of adhesion, consequently supporting the dissemination of tumor cells and the growth of metastases.
Therefore, our study suggests to evaluate, through further experiments, the administration of Neuregulin-ERBB3-ERBB2 axis inhibitors, in particular anti-ERBB2 drugs already used in the clinic for the treatment of other tumor subtypes, as a potential therapeutic strategy for basal-like / triple-negative breast cancer patients .
Congratulations to Dr. Carmen Miano, postdoc researcher of our research group and first author of the article, as well as to the other members of our group and external collaborators who have helped and supported us in the execution of the experiments and in the advancement of the project.
We deeply thank #AIRC and #FondazioneCariplo for their financial support of the project.
Go to the full article: Miano C, Morselli A, Pontis F, Bongiovanni C, Sacchi F, Da Pra S, Romaniello D, Tassinari R, Sgarzi M, Pantano E, Ventura C, Lauriola M, D’Uva G. NRG1/ERBB3/ERBB2 Axis Triggers Anchorage-Independent Growth of Basal-like/Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells. Cancers, 2022