Seminar

HER2 overexpression, cellular senescence and metastasis in breast cancer

Joaquín Arribas, PhD

Senescence, a terminal cell proliferation arrest, can be triggered by oncogenes. Oncogene-induced senescence is classically considered a tumor defense barrier. However, several findings show that, under certain circumstances, senescent cells may favor tumor progression because of their secretory phenotype. We have recently found that the expression in different breast epithelial cell lines of p95HER2, a constitutively active fragment of the tyrosine kinase receptor HER2, results in either increased proliferation or senescence. In senescent cells, p95HER2 elicits a secretome enriched in proteases, cytokines and growth factors. This secretory phenotype is not a mere consequence of the senescence status and requires continuous HER2 signaling to be maintained. Underscoring the functional relevance of the p95HER2-induced senescence secretome, we showed that p95HER2-induced senescent cells promotes metastasis in vivo in a non-cell autonomous manner.