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The ras family of oncogenes

1989; Springer Science+Business Media; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-1-4613-1599-5_4

2509-8497

Channing J. Der,

Cell death mechanisms and regulation

The first evidence implicating a role for the cellular ras genes in oncogenesis came from studies of the highly oncogenic RNA tumor viruses [1–4]. The cellular ras genes were first identified to be the cellular counterparts to the viral genes responsible for the oncogenic properties of Harvey (v-H-ras) and Kirsten (v-K-ras) murine sarcoma viruses [5,6]. Further interest in the role of cellular ras genes in carcinogenesis exploded in 1982, when the first human transforming genes were identified as activated cellular counterparts of viral ras genes [7–9]. Over the past six years, an enormous research effort has centered on characterizing the biochemistry and biology of these potential human oncogenes. Of the 40 or so cellular oncogenes that have been identified to date, the cellular ras genes have demonstrated the strongest association with human carcinogenesis. The frequent identification of activated ras genes in a wide variety of human neoplasms has provided strong circumstantial evidence for the role of these genes in the malignant process. Consequently, it is generally believed that determining the mechanism of action of ras will contribute significantly to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of human carcinogenesis.