Siampanopoulou M, Galaktidou G, Dimasis N, Gotzamani-Psarrakou A
2 Nuclear Medicine Laboratory, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AHEPA Hospital.
Research Department, Theagenio Cancer Institute.
Hippokratia. 2013 Apr;17(2):108-12.
One of the four transmembrane receptors that belong to the erB family, is the HER2/neu oncoprotein. It forms heterodimers by binding to specific ligands, enhancing cell signaling and assisting in cell growth and differentiation. A variety of human epithelial tumors are characterised by an overexpression and gene amplification of the HER2/neu oncoprotein. This is the case of breast tumors, in which the receptor's overexpression and its gene have been studied extensively and its overexpression has been associated with unfavorable prognosis. In addition, HER2/neu plays a major role in understanding the oncogenesis of prostate adenocarcinoma. For this reason, clarifying the HER2/neu expression is particularly important in androgen independent prostate cancer (PCa), due to the increasing interest in using anti-HER2 targeted therapies for advanced disease treatment. On the other hand, the overexpression of HER2/neu has been reported to release soluble extracellular domain (ECD) in the serum of PCa patients. For this reason, the present review focuses only on studies referring to Serum HER2/neu levels in PCa patients. Serum levels of HER2/neu generally increase with advanced disease state and higher levels have been associated with recurrent or metastatic PCa and a clinically worse outcome. Therefore, it may be concluded that since there is a correlation between increased HER2/neu levels and a poor prognosis in prostate adenocarcinoma, serum HER2/neu could be used in clinical practice and follow up of patients with advanced PCa.
属于erb家族的四种跨膜受体之一是HER2/neu癌蛋白。它通过与特定配体结合形成异二聚体，增强细胞信号传导并协助细胞生长和分化。多种人类上皮肿瘤的特征是HER2/neu癌蛋白的过表达和基因扩增。乳腺癌就是这种情况，其中该受体的过表达及其基因已得到广泛研究，其过表达与不良预后相关。此外，HER2/neu在理解前列腺腺癌的肿瘤发生过程中起主要作用。因此，由于对使用抗HER2靶向疗法治疗晚期疾病的兴趣日益增加，在雄激素非依赖性前列腺癌（PCa）中阐明HER2/neu表达尤为重要。另一方面，据报道HER2/neu的过表达会在PCa患者血清中释放可溶性细胞外结构域（ECD）。因此，本综述仅关注有关PCa患者血清HER2/neu水平的研究。HER2/neu的血清水平通常随着疾病进展而升高，较高水平与复发性或转移性PCa以及临床预后较差相关。因此，可以得出结论，由于HER2/neu水平升高与前列腺腺癌预后不良之间存在相关性，血清HER2/neu可用于晚期PCa患者的临床实践和随访。
