Results showed that WT1 mRNA expression was correlated with higher histological grades, ER-negative and basal-like and ERBB2 molecular subtypes in breast cancer.
The histological component of each Wilms tumor was divided into three categories (epithelial, blastemal, and mesenchymal) and the extent of HER2 protein expression was analyzed immunohistochemically.
Our data indicate that HER2/neu engages Akt to increase WT1 expression, and that WT1 protein plays a vital role in regulating cell cycle progression and apoptosis in HER2/neu-overexpressing breast cancer cells.
These results suggest that her2/neu contributes to Wilms tumor angiogenesis in vivo by regulating VEGF, but other processes may act to rescue HIF-1alpha and thus to support tumor growth in this system.
In contrast, expression of the EGFR-related protooncogene HER-2 (erbB-2) was found to be decreased in 11 RCCs and one Wilms' tumor; HER-2 gene structure, however, appeared normal in all specimens.