Overproduction of ErbB2 possibly linked to angiogenesis in breast cancer.(Brief Article)

2002 JUL 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Typically, the receptor ErbB2 dos not cause problems when expressed at normal levels. However, when overexpressed, it can ignite the development of cancer. New research suggests that ErbB2 overexpression may be linked to the production of several forms of a growth factor known to encourage breast cancer tumor progression.

Of the several major types of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is a protein known to stimulate tumor vessel growth and to cause vessel leakage, VEGF-A is the one that has previously been implicated in breast cancer invasion. Researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston are now saying that two other forms, VEGF-C and VEGF-D, can be identified in progressive breast cancer and that ErbB2 might modulate their activity to some extent.

Wentao Yang and colleagues investigated 107 cases and 22 controls in their breast cancer research, studying each breast cancer sample or normal breast tissue control for expression levels of the major forms of VEGF and the cellular receptor ErbB2.

"Higher expression of VEGF-C and VEGF-D was found in breast carcinomas than in nonmalignant breast tissue samples," Yang and coauthors said. "Moreover, expression of VEGF-A, VEGF-C, and VEGF-D was significantly and positively correlated with ErbB2 expression," they added.

Although high levels of VEGF-A, VEGF-C, and VEGF-D were ...