The role of HER2 in cancer therapy and targeted drug delivery

HER2 is highly expressed in a significant proportion of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and gastric cancer. Since the discovery of its role in tumorigenesis, HER2 has received great attention in cancer research during the past two decades. Successful development of the humanized monoclonal anti-HER2 antibody (Trastuzumab) for the treatment of breast cancer further spurred scientists to develop various HER2 specific antibodies, dimerization inhibitors and kinase inhibitors for cancer therapy. On the other hand, the high expression of HER2 and the accessibility of its extracellular domain make HER2 an ideal target for the targeted delivery of anti-tumor drugs as well as imaging agents. Although there is no natural ligand for HER2, artificial ligands targeting HER2 have been developed and applied in various targeted drug delivery systems. The emphasis of this review is to elucidate the roles of HER2 in cancer therapy and targeted drug delivery. The structure and signal pathway of HER2 will be briefly described. The role of HER2 in tumorigenesis and its relationship with other tumor markers will be discussed. For the HER2 targeted cancer therapy, numerous strategies including the blockage of receptor dimerization, inhibition of the tyrosine kinase activity, and interruption of the downstream signal pathway will be summarized. For the targeted drug delivery to HER2 positive tumor cells, various targeting ligands and their delivery systems will be described in details.

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