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c-erbB-2-positive breast carcinomas are highly aggressive tumors. In vitro data on breast cell lines showed that c-erbB-2 enhanced translational efficiency of hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha (HIF1alpha) production (Laughner et al., Mol Cell Biol 2001;21:3995-4005). We investigated the clinical correlate of this observation to assess whether c-erbB-2 expression was related to HIF1alpha expression, angiogenesis, and prognosis. A series of 180 breast carcinomas of known c-erbB-2 status (90 c-erbB-2-positive and 90 c-erbB-2-negative carcinomas) were stained immunohistochemically for HIF1alpha and CD31 endothelial cell antigen. c-erbB-2 positivity was clearly related to HIF1alpha protein expression and high angiogenesis. However, prognosis was decreased only in cases with simultaneous c-erbB-2 and HIF1alpha expression. If activation of c-erbB-2 in humans results in overexpression of HIF1alpha independently of conditions of hypoxia, as occur in experimental studies, this interaction may represent a main pathway conferring clinical aggressiveness to c-erbB-2-positive breast tumors.

Original publication

DOI

10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-04-1068

Type

Journal article

Journal

Clin Cancer Res

Publication Date

01/12/2004

Volume

10

Pages

7972 - 7977

Keywords

Biomarkers, Tumor, Breast Neoplasms, Cell Hypoxia, Endothelium, Vascular, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Humans, Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit, Immunoenzyme Techniques, Isoenzymes, L-Lactate Dehydrogenase, Neoplasm Staging, Neovascularization, Pathologic, Prognosis, Receptor, ErbB-2, Receptors, Estrogen, Receptors, Progesterone, Survival Rate, Transcription Factors