Clinical update on K-Ras targeted therapy in gastrointestinal cancers

Ras proteins are small guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) with a key role in regulating cell proliferation and survival (Prior et al., 2012), while abnormal Ras function is associated with developmental disorders and cancer (Fernandez-Medarde and Santos, 2011). Mutations in RAS oncogenes are present in an estimated 20 –30% of epithelial cancers (Singh et al., 2015a), and are particularly common in lung, pancreatic and colorectal cancers (McCormick, 2016). There are three highly related isoforms of the RAS gene: HRAS, NRAS and KRAS, which has two splice variants, KRAS4A and the major isoform, KRAS4B (Wellcome Sa nger Institute, 2018).

Source: Critical Reviews in Oncology Hematology - August 2, 2018 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Shubham Pant, Joleen Hubbard, Erika Martinelli, Tanios Bekaii-Saab Source Type: research