Role of HER2 in breast cancer stem cells

HER2 overexpression results in expansion of breast cancer stem cells (CSCs). However, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. We performed microarray analysis to obtain HER2-induced gene expression profiles in MCF10A breast epithelial cells and found that an array of inflammatory cytokine genes, including IL-1 and IL-6, are activated. Our study indicates that targeting the HER2-IL-1α-IL-6 axis provides an effective approach for eliminating of CSCs and treating HER2-positive breast cancer. MCF10A cells were stably transduced with human HER2-cDNA overexpressing and empty control pRABE retroviruses. RNA was extracted and hybridized to Illumina microarrays.