Transcriptional regulation of the HER2/neu protooncogene (also known as c-erbB2) has been the topic of many recent reports. The importance of these studies lies in the fact that HER2/neu overexpression occurs in about 30% of breast and ovarian cancers and to varying degrees in other cancers, including gastric, colorectal, lung, salivary, ovarian, bladder, pancreas, endometrial, cervical, oral, and prostate cancers. Furthermore, increased levels of the gene product play an important role during the neoplastic process of certain tumors. This review summarizes the recent work studying the regulation of HER2/neu expression in cells that overexpress the gene and reviews the current knowledge on general regulation of the HER2/neu promoter.

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