Enforced expression of GRB7 promoted cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, whereas GRB7v only increased cell proliferation and anchorage-independent growth ability.
It is noteworthy that coexpression of Grb7 with epidermal growth factor receptor or Her2/erbB2 was detected in 10 esophageal carcinomas (31.3%) and was significantly related to extramucosal tumor invasion (P = 0.02), whereas such a relationship was not shown by each sole expression.
These findings may be of particular interest because the transition from high grade intraepithelial neoplasia to invasive carcinoma is a crucial step in malignant transformation in Barrett's carcinogenesis and might underline the putative role of GRB7 and ERBB2 in cell migration and tumor invasion.