Similarity of protein encoded by the human c- erb - B -2 gene to epidermal growth factor receptor

• Published in: Nature (London) 1986, Vol.319 (6050), p.230-234
• Main Authors: Yamamoto, Tadashi, Ikawa, Shuntaro, Akiyama, Tetsu, Semba, Kentaro, Nomura, Nobuo, Miyajima, Nobuyuki, Saito, Toshiyuki, Toyoshima, Kumao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Line; Cell physiology; Cell transformation and carcinogenesis. Action of oncogenes and antioncogenes; Chromosome Aberrations; Chromosomes, Human, 16-18; DNA; epidermal growth factor; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; letter; man; Molecular and cellular biology; multidisciplinary; nucleotide sequence; Oncogenes; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor; Receptors, Cell Surface - genetics; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/319230a0

A novel v- erb - B -related gene, c- erb - B -2, which has been identified in the human genome 1,2 , maps to human chromosome 17 at q21 (ref. 40), and seems to encode a polypeptide with a kinase domain that is highly homologous with, but distinct from, that of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor 1 . The c- erb - B -2 gene is conserved in vertebrates and it has been suggested1 that the neu gene, detected in a series of rat neuro/glioblastomas 3 , is, in fact, the rat c- erb - B -2 gene. Amplification of the c- erb - B -2 gene in a salivary adenocarcinoma and a gastric cancer cell line MKN-7 suggests that its over-expression is sometimes involved in the neoplastic process. To determine the nature of the c- erb - B -2 protein, we have now molecularly cloned complementary DNA for c- erb - B -2 messenger RNA prepared from MKN-7 cells. Its sequence shows that the c- erb - B -2 gene encodes a possible receptor protein and allows an analysis of the similarity of the protein to the EGF receptor and the neu product. As a consequence of chromosomal aberration in MKN-7 cells, a 4.6-kilobase (kb) normal transcript and a truncated 2.3-kb transcript of c- erb - B -2 are synthesized at elevated levels. The latter transcript presumably encodes only the extracellular domain of the putative receptor.