Targeting new anticancer drugs within signalling pathways regulated by the Ras GTPase superfamily (Review).
A dynamic equilibrium or is responsible for the proper function of a living organism. Physiological events regulating proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation, and cell arrest, modulates the correct homeostasis and functionality of all tissues. Cancer is a consequence of a disorder in these sequential events, which results in the alteration of the ratio between cell death, cell differentiation and cell proliferation that ultimately leads to an increase in the number of dysregulated cells. Most of the processes which control the are regulated by signalling pathways, whose components are currently being explored as potential targets for the design of antitumoral drugs. Many in vivo studies have shown that Ras and Rho proteins are key modulators of mitogenic signalling, and are involved in the carcinogenesis of several human tumors. The development of recent drugs that elicit antitumoral activity by blocking some of the Ras and/or Rho effects, is discussed in this review.
Ramírez De Molina
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Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
Rodríguez-González
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Lacal
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JC
D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015195:Drug Design; D020549:GTP Phosphohydrolase Activators / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects*; D020703:ras GTPase-Activating Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D020549:GTP Phosphohydrolase Activators; D020703:ras GTPase-Activating Proteins