Together these results suggest that trastuzumab resistance in PTEN deficient HER2+ breast cancer results in the EMT to transforms PTEN deficient HER2+ breast cancer to a triple negative phenotype that is dependent upon the IL-6/STAT3/NF-κB signaling axis for survival and self-renewal of CSCs (Fig. 3G). Here, ERBB2 is linked to breast carcinoma.