Genomic amplicons target vesicle recycling in breast cancer

Abstract

Aberrant endocytosis, vesicle targeting, and receptor recycling represent emerging hallmarks of cancer. In this issue of the JCI, Zhang and colleagues demonstrate that RAB-coupling protein (RCP; also known as RAB11FIP1) is a "driver" of the 8p11-12 amplicon in human breast cancer and mouse xenograft models of mammary carcinogenesis (see the related article beginning on page 2171). Their finding that RAB GTPase function enables genomic amplification to confer aggressiveness to mammary tumors adds significantly to the body of evidence supporting pivotal roles for receptor trafficking in the proliferation and metastasis of cancer.