Development of Monoclonal antibody against Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 a marker of belligerent Breast Cancer

Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER-2) proteins are receptors on breast cells which help to control how a healthy breast cell grows, divides, and repairs itself. In breast cancers, the HER2 gene doesn’t work correctly and makes too many copies of itself and signals breast cells to make too many HER2 receptors. Over-expression of this oncogene plays an important role in the development and progression of certain aggressive types of breast cancer by making breast cells to grow and divide in an uncontrolled way. HER2 has become an important biomarker and target of therapy for breast cancer patients. Its epitope is localized in the extracellular domain and consists of an extracellular ligand-binding domain that is connected to a large intracellular domain by a single transmembrane sequence. In this study we have developed a monoclonal antibody against HER-2 and validated it by ELISA, Western Blotting and Immunohistochemistry. It recognizes a protein of 185kDa, which is identified as c-erbB-2/HER-2/neu.. C-erbB-2/HER-2 is a member of the EGFR family.. Receptors of this family are. c-erbB-2/HER-2 protein is over-expressed in a variety of carcinomas especially those of breast and ovary. The developed monoclonal antibody was used to observe the expression level of HER2 in human breast cancer tissues by Immunohistochemistry. The antibody staining was seen on the membranes of the breast cancer cells which is specific and shows minimal cross-reaction with other members of the EGFR-family. This antibody can be used in the diagnosis of HER-2 positive breast cancers.