HER2 overcomes PTEN (loss)-induced senescence to cause aggressive prostate cancer

Ahmad, I. et al. (2011) HER2 overcomes PTEN (loss)-induced senescence to cause aggressive prostate cancer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(39), pp. 16392-16397. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.1101263108)

Abstract

Prostate cancer (CaP) is the most common cancer among adult men in the Western world. Better insight into its tumor-activating pathways may facilitate the development of targeted therapies. In this study, we show that patients who develop prostate tumors with low levels of PTEN and high levels of HER2/3 have a poor prognosis. This is functionally relevant, as targeting Her2 activation to the murine prostate cooperates with Pten loss and drives CaP progression. Mechanistically, this is associated with activation of the MAPK pathway and abrogation of the Pten loss-induced cellular senescence program. Importantly, inhibition of MEK function strongly suppressed proliferation within these tumors by restoring the Pten loss-induced cellular senescence program. Taken together, these data suggest that stratification of CaP patients for HER2/3 and PTEN status could identify patients with aggressive CaP who may respond favorably to MEK inhibition

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Ahmad, Professor Imran and Leung, Professor Hing and Nixon, Mr Colin and Singh, Mr Lukram and Patel, Dr Rachana and Brunton, Dr Valerie and Sansom, Professor Owen
• Authors: Ahmad, I., Patel, R., Singh, L.B., Nixon, C., Seywright, M., Barnetson, R.J., Brunton, V.G., Muller, W.J., Edwards, J., Sansom, O.J., and Leung, H.Y.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cancer Sciences
• Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
• Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
• ISSN: 0027-8424
• ISSN (Online): 1091-6490