A new hypothesis on the role of c-erbB2 oncogene in the progress of breast cancer

Abstract

Proliferation and the state of adhesion molecules (E-cadherin, galectin-3) and estrogen and progesterone receptors were immunohistochemically analyzed in breast cancer biopsy specimens under conditions of c-erbB2 overexpression with and without gene amplification. It was hypothesized that c-erbB2 overexpression without gene amplification led to suppression of proliferation and "conservation" of tumor cell.