RESEARCH ARTICLE Human breast cancer and a

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground Breast cancer is the most common malignancy affecting women in the Western world. Besides surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and endocrine treatment, immunother-apy has become an established part of systemic therapy in treating metastatic breast cancer [1]. Several single-agent and combination chemotherapeutic options have been shown to be effective as first- or second-line ther-apy in the management of metastatic disease with plat-inum derivates and anthracyclines being the most active compounds [2]. These often have substantial side effects, however, and the identification of new agents for highly specific targeted therapy is an important area of cancer research. Bacterial toxins such as adenylate cyclase, botulinum, cholera, and Shiga-like toxins (verotoxins) might be used to establish novel therapeutics agains