Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40857406›Full record

ArticleJCI insight2025

Identification of asporin as a HER3 ligand exposes a therapeutic vulnerability in prostate cancer.

Amanda B Hesterberg, Hong Yuen Wong, Jorgen Jackson, Monika Antunovic, Brenda L Rios, Evan Watkins, Riley E Bergman, Brad A Davidson, Sarah E Ginther, Diana Graves and 12 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in JCI insight, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Molecular Mechanisms and Immune Regulation in Prostate Cancer: A Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Review
  2. Review
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

22 authors.

Amanda B HesterbergDepartment of Medicine.
Hong Yuen WongDepartment of Medicine.
Jorgen JacksonDepartment of Medicine.
Monika AntunovicDepartment of Medicine.
Brenda L RiosDepartment of Medicine.
Evan WatkinsDepartment of Medicine.
Riley E BergmanDepartment of Medicine.
Brad A DavidsonDepartment of Medicine.
Sarah E GintherDepartment of Medicine.
Diana GravesDepartment of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, and.
Elliott F NahmiasDepartment of Medicine.
Jared A GoogelDepartment of Medicine.
Lillian B MartinDepartment of Medicine.
Violeta SanchezDepartment of Medicine.
Paula I Gonzalez-EricssonDepartment of Medicine.
Quanhu ShengDepartment of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Benjamin P BrownDepartment of Chemistry.
Jens MeilerDepartment of Chemistry.
Kerry R SchafferDepartment of Medicine.
Jennifer B GordetskyDepartment of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, and.
Ben H ParkDepartment of Medicine.
Paula J HurleyDepartment of Medicine.

Funding

Tumor Immunology and Microenvironment Research ProgramP30CA068485 · NCI · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI Ben Ho Park · 1995 to 2026
$172.8M
Translational Pathology CoreU54CA163069 · NCI · MEHARRY MEDICAL COLLEGE · PI ADUNYAH, SAMUEL EVANS, STEWART, LAMONICA VANETTE · 2011 to 2025
$18.8M
Vanderbilt Clinical Oncology Research Career Development ProgramK12CA090625 · NCI · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI Debra L. Friedman, Paula Jill Hurley · 2001 to 2026
$16.9M
MULTIDISCIPLINARY BASIC RESEARCH TRAINING IN CANCERT32CA009592 · NCI · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · PI Justin M Balko, Julie A Rhoades (Sterling) · 1987 to 2026
$10.4M
BIOCHEMICAL &CHEMICAL TRAINING FOR CANCER RESEARCHT32CA009582 · NCI · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · PI David K Cortez · 1987 to 2026
$8.8M
Circulating plasma tumor DNA as a biomarker for early stage breast cancerR01CA194024 · NCI · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI PARK, BEN HO · 2016 to 2020
$1.9M
Regulation of Metastatic Development by Heritable Variants in the Tumor MicroenvironmentR01CA211695 · NCI · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI HURLEY, PAULA JILL · 2018 to 2023
$1.9M
Enabling Technology to Study Mechanosensitive and Mechanoresistant Cancer Cells in FlowR01CA256054 · NCI · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · PI KING, MICHAEL R. · 2021 to 2025
$1.8M
Defining Tumor Microenvironmental Mediators of Prostate Cancer Metastasis and Therapy ResistanceR01CA285780 · NCI · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI Paula Jill Hurley · 2024 to 2026
$1.7M
Molecular complete response in blood as a predictor for pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant therapy for breast cancerR01CA214494 · NCI · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI PARK, BEN HO · 2018 to 2023
$1.1M
Leica Bond RXS10OD023475 · OD · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI BOYD, KELLI L. · 2018 to 2018
$213k
NCI NIH HHS K12 CA090625NCI NIH HHS P30 CA068485NCI NIH HHS R01 CA194024NCI NIH HHS R01 CA211695NCI NIH HHS R01 CA214494NCI NIH HHS R01 CA256054NCI NIH HHS R01 CA285780NCI NIH HHS T32 CA009582NCI NIH HHS T32 CA009592NCI NIH HHS U54 CA163069NIH HHS S10 OD023475
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are part of the tumor microenvironment (TME) that enable cancer cells to establish metastases, but the mechanisms of these interactions are not fully known. Herein, we identified a paracrine mechanism in which CAF-secreted asporin (ASPN) activated ErbB signaling and subsequent migration of adjacent prostate cancer cells. Our data support that ASPN bound directly to the ligand binding domain of human epidermal growth factor 3 (HER3) and induced HER2/HER3 heterodimerization and activation of the PI3K, MAPK, and calcium pathways. Genetic and therapeutic inhibition of HER2/HER3 ablated ASPN-induced signaling and migration. Clinically, ASPN was detected in the stroma of HER2/HER3-expressing human metastatic prostate cancer, supporting the clinical relevance of these findings and highlighting a potential therapeutic vulnerability. Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapies designed to target HER2 (trastuzumab-deruxtecan) or HER3 (patritumab-deruxtecan) significantly diminished prostate cancer cell growth in vitro and tumor size in vivo, despite Aspn in the TME. Collectively, these findings indicate ASPN functions as a HER3 ligand to induce cellular migration, and inhibition with anti-HER2 or anti-HER3 ADC therapies highlights potential clinical utility for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer that expresses HER2 or HER3.

Indexed as

Prostatic NeoplasmsReceptor, ErbB-3SaporinsAnimalsCancer-Associated FibroblastsCell Line, TumorCell MovementErb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine KinasesExtracellular Matrix ProteinsHumansLigandsMaleMiceSignal TransductionTrastuzumabTumor MicroenvironmentASPN protein, humanERBB2 protein, humanErb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine KinasesERBB3 protein, humanExtracellular Matrix ProteinsLigandsReceptor, ErbB-3SaporinsTrastuzumabCell biologyOncogenesOncologyProstate cancerSignal transduction

Identifiers

PMID40857406
PMCPMC12406728

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.