Effects of a human compact anti-ErbB2 antibody on prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in men in developed countries. ErbB2, a tyrosine kinase receptor overexpressed in many human cancer types, contributes to prostate cancer progression by activating the androgen receptor in a steroid poor environment, thus promoting androgen-independent cell growth. The consequent development of hormone refractory tumors is a major obstacle in prostate cancer therapy. The inhibition of ErbB2 signal transduction pathways by the use of human antibodies could be a valuable alternative strategy for cancer therapy. We performed a comparative analysis in vitro and in vivo of the antitumor effects of three different antibodies targeting different epitopes of ErbB2: Herceptin (trastuzumab), 2C4 (pertuzumab) and Erb-hcAb (human anti-ErbB2-compact antibody), a novel fully human compact antibody produced in our laboratory. Herein, we demonstrate that the growth of both androgen-dependent and independent prostate cancer cells was efficiently inhibited by Erb-hcAb. The antitumor effects induced by Erb-hcAb on some cell lines were more potent than those observed for either Herceptin or 2C4. Thus, Erb-hcAb could be a promising candidate in the immunotherapy of prostate cancer for which no obvious treatment has been reported so far.