Herceptin Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Herceptin, including details on side-effects, breast cancer, treatment, therapy.

Early changes in protein expression detected by mass spectrometry predict tumor response to molecular therapeutics.

Reyzer ML, Caldwell RL, Dugger TC, Forbes JT, Ritter CA, Guix M, Arteaga CL, Caprioli RM

Mass Spectrometry Research Center, Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt-Ingram Comprehensive Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

Biomarkers that predict therapeutic response are essential for the development of anticancer therapies. We have used matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) to directly analyze protein profiles in mouse mammary tumor virus/HER2 transgenic mouse frozen tumor sections after treatment with the erbB receptor inhibitors OSI-774 and Herceptin. Inhibition of tumor cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis and tumor reduction were predicted by a >80% reduction in thymosin beta4 and ubiquitin levels that were detectable after 16 hours of a single drug dose before any evidence of in situ cellular activity. These effects were time- and dose-dependent, and their spatial distribution in the tumor correlated with that of the small-molecule inhibitor OSI-774. In addition, they predicted for therapeutic synergy of OSI-774 and Herceptin as well as for drug resistance. These results suggest that drug-induced early proteomic changes as measured by MALDI-MS can be used to predict the therapeutic response to established and novel therapies.

Published 17 December 2004 in Cancer Res, 64(24): 9093-100.
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