is one of the most feared diseases, by quiet of his appearance and stealth of their advance. Also, of course, by the numbers that illustrate its impact on the world’s population throughout history. In our country, for example, occur a year about 206 new cancer cases per 100 thousand inhabitants. However, for some years, it has begun to cease to be a taboo in society, mainly thanks to the possibilities not only heal, but also to not get sick. 

In this sense, science stands as an essential part of the quest to unravel the mechanisms through which, at a certain time, abnormal cells begin to multiply to give rise to a tumor. And it is here where it appears the team of Dr. Patricia Elizalde, researcher at the Conicet in the laboratory of Molecular Carcinogenesis of the Institute of biology and medicine Experimental (IBYME), who at the end of 2010 discovered the unique role of a protein called ErbB2 in cases of breast cancer, when he moved to the core of malignant cells and triggers tumor expansion mechanisms. 

Those conclusions turned then in a publication of the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology, which recently followed another that reflects the significant progress achieved in a new study of 2011: tests to patients, the team was unable to confirm the clinical relevance of that first discovery.

Prior discovery

To understand the subject of study by Elizalde and his collaborators, serves to review the intricate process by which cells receive information of the entire body through a few components called receptors – among them, the ErbB2-which are proteins which act as a kind of antenna which captures the data that come from “outside” and sends them to the interior of the cell. A person healthy, the ErbB2 remains anchored in the cell membrane, and from time to time, handles give a signal to the cell to multiply it in an orderly fashion, and then another for to stop.

In the previous finding, the Group discovered that cells of breast cancer in mice, the ErbB2 moves from the membrane to the nucleus and, once there, ordered a uncontrolled cellular proliferation. In the second work, wanted to verify the clinical significance to find that same in human tumors.

Their findings showed that the nuclear presence of ErbB-2 is an indicator of lower survival: until now, breast cancer biopsies only examines the ErbB-2 located in the membrane, which is a sign of poor prognosis. This Panel’s findings demonstrate that the nuclear presence of ErbB-2 is also an independent less chance of healing factor. 

Confirmed results

with the collaboration of pathologists and oncologists Chilean, the group studied with biopsies of 346 patients, after which confirmed that the location of ErbB2 in the nucleus effectively corresponds to a worse prognosis.

“We develop a protocol of identification, and the results allowed us to draw a correlation between the presence of the ErbB2 in the kernel with a lower survival of women in which is it detected, they have fewer chances to respond to therapies”, requires the doctor Elizalde. “The idea is to inhibit the entry of this receiver to the core, so it will not stimulate cell division.” “Importantly move forward in clinical trials, and find a partner with any pharmaceutical industry”.

The work, published earlier this year in the journal BMC Cancer, was funded by the Ministry of science, technology and productive innovation, the National Agency for the promotion of science and technology, Conicet and the Susan Komen Foundation for the Cure of United States. The team who runs Elizalde is composed by Roxana Schillaci, Pablo Guzman, Florence Cayrol, Wendy Beguelin, María Díaz Flaqué, Cecilia Proietti, Viviana Pineda, Jorge Palazzi, Isabel Frahm, Eduardo Charreau, Esteban Maronna and Juan Roa.