DVL3 is over-expressed in the tumors of breast cancer patients treated with trastuzumab.
Trastuzumab (Herceptin) is a monoclonal antibody targeting the extracellular domain of the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) (1) utilized for the treatment of adjuvant and metastatic breast cancer (2) in the United States and worldwide. We mined published and public microarray and gene expression data (3, 4) to discover in an unbiased manner the most striking transcriptional features of trastuzumab treatment. We identified significant differential expression of the gene encoding the Wnt pathway molecule dishevelled-3, DVL3 (5-7), in the primary tumors of breast cancer patients treated with trastuzumab. DVL3 expression in primary tumors of the breast in patients treated with trastuzumab was significantly higher than in patients not treated with trastuzumab.