A sweet new role for EGFR in cancer

Abstract

The epidermal growth factor (EGFR) has served as an attractive bull's-eye for targeted cancer therapies. Although the importance of EGFR as an oncogenic tyrosine kinase seems well established, a report by Weihua et al. in this issue of Cancer Cell adds a new wrinkle to the role of EGFR in cancer. In this study, the authors demonstrate that EGFR facilitates glucose transport into cells by associating with and stabilizing a sodium/glucose cotransporter (SGLT1). Additionally, they find that this function does not require EGFR kinase activity. These results point to a new kinase-independent role for EGFR in promoting metabolic homeostasis in cancer cells.