Enforced expression of GRB7 promoted cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, whereas GRB7v only increased cell proliferation and anchorage-independent growth ability.
These findings may be of particular interest because the transition from high grade intraepithelial neoplasia to invasive carcinoma is a crucial step in malignant transformation in Barrett's carcinogenesis and might underline the putative role of GRB7 and ERBB2 in cell migration and tumor invasion.
It is noteworthy that coexpression of Grb7 with epidermal growth factor receptor or Her2/erbB2 was detected in 10 esophageal carcinomas (31.3%) and was significantly related to extramucosal tumor invasion (P = 0.02), whereas such a relationship was not shown by each sole expression.