Published online Aug 10, 2014. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v5.i3.299
Revised: May 20, 2014
Accepted: May 31, 2014
Published online: August 10, 2014
There have been significant improvements in the detection and treatment of breast cancer in recent decades. However, there is still a need to develop more effective therapeutic techniques that are patient specific with reduced toxicity leading to further increases in patients’ overall survival; the ongoing progress in understanding recurrence, resistant and spread also needs to be maintained. Better understanding of breast cancer pathology, molecular biology and progression as well as identification of some of the underlying factors involved in breast cancer tumourgenesis and metastasis has led to the identification of novel therapeutic targets. Over a number of years interest has risen in breast tumour kinase (Brk) also known as protein tyrosine kinase 6; the research field has grown and Brk has been described as a desirable therapeutic target in relation to tyrosine kinase inhibition as well as disruption of its kinase independent activity. This review will outline the current “state of play” with respect to targeted therapy for breast cancer, as well as discussing Brk’s role in the processes underlying tumour development and metastasis and its potential as a therapeutic target in breast cancer.
Core tip: Breast tumour kinase/protein tyrosine kinase 6 is overexpressed in up to 86% of invasive breast cancers. It plays a key role in regulating a number of cell processes that are involved in the metastatic process. As a kinase involved in both epidermal growth factor and insulin like growth factors signaling, inhibiting its activity could prove to be an effective way to enhance the effects of current targeted treatments. In addition, disrupting the protein-protein interactions central for the kinase-independent aspects of its function may generate an alternative mechanism for selective targeting of breast cancer cells.