Silencing growth hormone receptor inhibits estrogen receptor negative breast cancer through ATP-binding cassette sub-family G member 2

Abstract

Breast cancer: A protein to target for double effect A new way to treat some forms of breast cancer might be achieved by drugs that interact with a cell surface protein that binds to growth hormone and transmits growth-inducing signals into the cells. Rajkumar Lakshmanaswamy and colleagues at Texas Tech University, El Paso, USA, investigated the role of growth hormone receptor (GHR) protein in human breast cancer cells. Silencing the gene for GHR dramatically reduced the ability of the cells to multiply and spread, and also reduced the cells’ resistance to anti-cancer drugs. Increasing the activity of the GHR gene increased the cells’ cancerous activity and their resistance to chemotherapy. The research identified some molecular signaling pathways inside cells that mediated these effects. Drugs interfering with GHR activity might inhibit the spread of cancer while making existing cancer cells more susceptible to treatment.