PARATHYROID-HORMONE RELATED PROTEIN (PTHRP) AND BREAST-CANCER

PTHrP, a newly caracterized peptide is responsible for humoral hypercl cemia of malignancy in squamous cancers. It is also expressed by a var iety of normal tissue and might have growth factor propriety. It is ex pressed by lactating breast and is frequently present in breast cancer . Although it is responsible for humoral hypercalcemia in an animal mo del of breast cancer its role in breast cancer hypercalcemia is still putative. The possibility that it might be one of the autocrine growth factors implicated in breast cancer cell proliferation has been sugge sted.