Parathyroid hormone related protein (PTHrP) and breast cancer.

PTHrP, a newly characterized peptide is responsible for humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy in squamous cancers. It is also expressed by a variety of normal tissue and might have growth factor propriety. It is expressed by lactating breast and is frequently present in breast cancer. Although it is responsible for humoral hypercalcemia in an animal model of breast cancer its role in breast cancer hypercalcemia is still putative. The possibility that it might be one of the autocrine growth factors implicated in breast cancer cell proliferation has been suggested.