Skip to Content for HER Pathway Expertise Menu for HER Pathway Expertise About Us Menu Research Menu Development Menu Medicines Menu Investors Menu Media Menu Careers Menu
Banner Image

HER Pathway Expertise


 Mark Sliwkowski

Mark Sliwkowski, Director, Staff Scientist in Translational Oncology, is an expert on the HER2 pathway.
Signal transduction is the process by which cells are given their instructions to divide, survive, die, or differentiate (i.e., turn into something else). Finding ways to block or alter the transduction pathways of the HER family is the objective of this research.

Genentech researchers are focused on the HER family of genes and the HER signaling network in their search for pathways to the treatment of cancer. Their interest stems from the discovery that the HER pathway is frequently disregulated in solid tumor cancers, and that several different aberrant receptors in the HER pathway have been linked to tumor growth, survival, and metastasis.

Perhaps the most well-known gene in the HER family is HER2. Alteration of the HER2 gene in normal cells may lead to overexpression of the HER2 protein, which signals uncontrolled growth that leads to cancer. Such HER2 overexpression affects 25 percent to 30 percent of breast cancer patients. Genentech's Herceptin® was developed as a therapeutic antibody targeted to this cell surface protein.

Herceptin MOA Herceptin MOA

HER 2 is a member of a larger family of HER genes, which includes HER1, HER3, and HER4. Approximately 11 different factors (or soluble ligands) exist that bind and activate these receptors in certain patterns. Basic studies found that HER2 lacks the ability to bind factors, while HER3 can bind one factor, but cannot signal by itself. HER2 functions as a co-receptor with the other members of the HER family, including HER3.