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ERBB2-Mediated Transcriptional Up-regulation of the 5ß1 Integrin Fibronectin Receptor Promotes Tumor Cell Survival Under Adverse Conditions

¹ Children's Hospital, ² Department of Internal Medicine, ³ FACS Core Facility, ⁴ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, ⁵ Institute of Pathology, ⁶ Department of Urology, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany; ⁷ Center for Toxicology, Institute of Legal Medicine and Rudolf-Boehm Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Requests for reprints: Christian Spangenberg, Children's Hospital, University of Mainz, Obere Zahlbacher Strasse 63, 55131 Mainz, Germany. Phone: 49-6131-393-3339; Fax: 49-6131-393-0227; E-mail: spange{at}molgen.medizin.uni-mainz.de.

Oncogenic activation of the receptor tyrosine kinase ERBB2 is a key event in the development of a number of epithelial malignancies. In these tumors, high levels of ERBB2 are strongly associated with metastatic disease and poor prognosis. Paradoxically, an inherent cellular response to hypermitogenic signaling by ERBB2 and other oncogenes seems to be growth arrest, rather than proliferation. Molecular characterization of this yet undefined antiproliferative state in independent cell lines overexpressing either wild-type ERBB2 or the mutationally activated receptor unveiled a dramatic induction of the 5ß1 integrin fibronectin receptor. 5 Integrin up-regulation is mainly a transcriptional response mediated by the hypoxia-inducible transcription factors (HIF), leading to a massive increase in membrane-resident receptor molecules and enhanced fibronectin adhesiveness of the respective cells. Functionally, ERBB2-dependent ligation of fibronectin results in improved survival of mammary adenocarcinoma cells under adverse conditions, like serum withdrawal, hypoxia, and chemotherapy. HIF-1 is an independent predictor of poor overall survival in patients with breast cancer. In particular, HIF-1 overexpression correlates significantly with early local relapse and distant metastasis, a phenotype also highly characteristic of ERBB2-positive tumors. As HIF-1 is known to be stabilized by ERBB2 signaling under normoxic conditions, we propose that 5 integrin is a major effector in this regulatory circuit and may represent the molecular basis for the HIF-1-dependent aggressiveness observed in ERBB2-overexpressing breast carcinomas. Hypermitogenic ERBB2 signaling and tumor hypoxia may act synergistically to favor the establishment of chemoresistant dormant micrometastatic cells frequently observed in patients with breast cancer. This new insight could be the basis for additional approaches complementing current cancer therapy. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(7): 3715-25)

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