RANK/EGFR interplay in breast cancer.

Abstract

e13011Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy, affecting one in eight women in North America and Europe. The human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein is a type I transmembrane receptor that comprise a major determinant of normal development but also cancer. RANK receptor (Receptor Activator of Nuclear factor-kB) is a tumor necrosis superfamily member and binding partner for RANKL, which was recently implicated in breast cancer initiation, progression and metastasis. Here we provide preliminary evidence of a possible interplay between RANK and EGFR signaling in breast cancer. Methods: TCGA (cancergenome.nih.gov) publicly available mRNA and protein expression data (RNA Seq V2 RSEM) for EGFR and TNFSRF11A (RANK) genes from an unselected cohort of 1036 breast cancer patients and 58 breast cancer cell lines were retrieved and analyzed. EGFR and TNFSRF11A mRNA expression were also evaluated through real-time RT-PCR in a panel of 7 human breast cancer cell lines and 22 FFPE breast ca...