erb B-2 Is a Potent Oncogene When Overexpressed in NIH/3T3 Cells

作者：Pier Paolo Di Fiore, Jacalyn H. Pierce, Matthias H. Kraus, Oreste Segatto, C. Richter King, Stuart A. Aaronson · 发表于：Science · 年份：1987 · DOI：10.1126/science.2885917 · 被引用次数：1017 · 研究领域：HER2/EGFR in Cancer Research、Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research、Glycosylation and Glycoproteins Research

A wide variety of human tumors contain an amplified or overexpressed erbB-2 gene, which encodes a growth factor receptor-like protein. When erbB-2 complementary DNA was expressed in NIH/3T3 cells under the control of the SV40 promoter, the gene lacked transforming activity despite expression of detectable levels of the erbB-2 protein. A further five- to tenfold increase in its expression under influence of the long terminal repeat of Moloney murine leukemia virus was associated with activation of erbB-2 as a potent oncogene. The high levels of the erbB-2 product associated with malignant transformation of NIH/3T3 cells were observed in human mammary tumor cells that overexpressed this gene. These findings demonstrate a new mechanism for acquisition of oncogenic properties by genes encoding growth factor receptor-like proteins and provide a functional basis for the role of their overexpression in the development of human malignancies.