ErbB2 increases vascular endothelial growth factor protein synthesis via activation of mammalian target of rapamycin/p70S6K leading to increased angiogenesis and spontaneous metastasis of human breast cancer cells

ErbB2 overexpression in breast tumors results in increased metastasis and angiogenesis and reduced survival. To study ErbB2 signaling mechanisms in metastasis and angiogenesis, we did a spontaneous metastasis assay using MDA-MB-435 human breast cancer cells stably transfected with constitutively active ErbB2 kinase (V659E), a kinase-dead mutant of ErbB2 (K753M), or vector control (neo). Mice injected with V659E had increased metastasis incidence and tumor micro-vessel density than mice injected with K753M or control. Increased angiogenesis in vivo from the V659E transfectants paralleled increased angiogenic potential in vitro. V659E produced increased vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) through increased VEGF protein synthesis. This was mediated through signaling events involving extracellular signal-regulated kinase, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and p70S6K. The V659E xenografts also had significantly increased phosphorylated Akt, phosphorylated p70S6K, and VEGF compared with controls. To validate the clinical relevance of these findings, we examined 155 human breast tumor samples. Human tumors that overexpressed ErbB2, which have been previously shown to have higher VEGF expression, showed significantly higher p70S6K phosphorylation as well. Increased VEGF expression also significantly correlated with higher levels of Akt and mTOR phosphorylation. Additionally, patients with tumors having increased p70S6K phosphorylation showed a trend for worse disease-free survival and increased metastasis. Our findings show that ErbB2 increases VEGF protein production by activating p70S6K in cell lines, xenografts, and in human cancers and suggest that these signaling molecules may serve as targets for antiangiogenic and antimetastatic therapies.