Midregion parathyroid hormone-related protein inhibits growth and invasion in vitro and tumorigenesis in vivo of human breast cancer cells.

Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) is critical for normal mammary development and is overexpressed by breast cancers. PTHrP is a peptide hormone that undergoes extensive post-translational processing, and PTHrP(38–94)-amide is one of the mature secretory forms of the peptide. In this study, we explored the effect of PTHrP(38–94)-amide in a panel of six breast cancer cell lines “in vitro” and in MDA-MB231 cells “in vivo” specifically examining cell viability, proliferation, invasiveness, and growth in nude mice. PTHrP(38–94)-amide markedly inhibited proliferation and also caused striking toxicity and accelerated cell death in breast cancer cells. In addition, direct injection of PTH…