PRESS RELEASE FROM MOLECULAR SYSTEMS BIOLOGY
(<http://www.nature.com/msb>)
This press release is copyrighted to Molecular Systems Biology.
Warning: This document, and the Nature journal paper to which it refers, may contain information that is price sensitive (as legally defined, for example, in the UK Criminal Justice Act 1993 Part V) with respect to publicly quoted companies. Anyone dealing in securities using information contained in this document, or in advance copies of a Nature journal’s content, may be guilty of insider trading under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Systems biology tackles the mechanisms of cancer
DOI: 10.1038/msb4100094
Potential novel targets for anti-cancer therapy are revealed in a paper to be published online this week in Molecular Systems Biology. Forest White and colleagues investigated the EGFR/HER2 signaling pathway, which is perturbed in human breast cancer.
The HER2 receptor is over-expressed in several human cancers and is the target of the recently developed Herceptin therapy against metastatic breast cancer. Understanding the mechanisms relating HER2 over-expression to tumor cell proliferation and migration is key for the development of novel anti-cancer therapeutics.
The authors of the present study applied a number of high-throughput technologies and systems biology approaches to investigate the impact of high levels of HER2 receptors on intracellular signaling. Their analysis links the effects of HER2 over-expression to cell migration and reveals many potential novel anti-cancer targets. According to a related News and Views article from Mark Greene and Alan Berezov, these findings ‘mark an important breakthrough’ in the characterization of the EGFR signaling network in tumors.
Author contacts:
Forest M White (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 258 8949; E-mail: [email protected]
Mark Greene (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA) N&V author
Tel: +1 215 898 2847; E-mail: [email protected]
Editorial contact:
Thomas Lemberger (European Molecular Biology Organization, Heidelberg, Germany)
Tel: +49 6221 8891 403; E-mail: [email protected]
Media contacts:
Helen Jamison (Nature London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4658; E-mail: [email protected]
Ruth Francis (Senior Press Officer, Nature London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4562; E-mail: [email protected]
AN EMBARGOED PDF COPY OF THIS PAPER IS NOW AVAILABLE ON <http://press.nature.com>
About Nature Publishing Group
Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd, dedicated to serving the academic, professional scientific and medical communities. NPG's flagship title, Nature, was first published in 1869. Other publications include Nature research journals, Nature Reviews, Nature Clinical Practice and a range of prestigious academic journals including society-owned publications. NPG also provides news content through [email protected] and scientific career information through Naturejobs.
NPG is a global company with headquarters in London and offices in New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, Tokyo, Paris, Munich, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Delhi, Mexico City and Basingstoke. For more information, please go to <www.nature.com>.
