Alterations of signal transduction pathways play a significant role in the growth and metastasis of human cancers. One of our major focuses is the Her2/neu receptor tyrosine kinase, a member of the EGFR growth factor receptor family, which is gene amplified and activated in about 20-25% of human breast cancer cases. Several drugs that target Her2/neu are used in the treatment of Her2-positive breast cancer, such as a monoclonal antibody to the extracellular portion of the receptor or small molecule kinase inhibitors, but resistance to these drugs has frequently been seen in patients. Better understanding of Her2/neu and the downstream signal transduction pathways it uses will provide improved treatment for breast cancer patients. Our lab studies signal transduction pathways in breast cancer using a variety of approaches. Proteomics is the large-scale identification and characterization of proteins and it can be used to provide deeper insights into these pathways by identifying novel proteins and sites of post-translational modifications. We have previously published a large proteomic study of Her2/neu signaling in cell lines and are currently working on performing proteomic experiments in animal models.

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Breast cancer, HER2 positive breast cancer, oncology, medical oncology

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