A new therapeutic antibody masks ErbB2 to its partners.
In cancer cells, the ErbB2 receptor tyrosine kinase can be activated in two ways: by overexpression or by ligand-mediated stimulation of another ErbB receptor. The ErbB2-targeting antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin) is used for treatment of metastatic breast cancer patients whose tumors overexpress ErbB2. A new structural study in this issue of Cancer Cell reveals how targeting ErbB2 with another antibody, pertuzumab (Omnitarg), prevents ligand-induced dimerization of ErbB2 with the other ErbB receptors. Pertuzumab's novel mode of action might offer additional therapeutic opportunities for treatment of tumors expressing ligand-activated ErbB2.
Badache
Ali
A
Friedrich Miescher Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, P.O. Box 2543, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland.
Hynes
Nancy E
NE
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy*; D019281:Dimerization; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D000068878:Trastuzumab
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D000068878:Trastuzumab; C485206:pertuzumab