title: Invasive skin carcinoma--Ras and alpha6beta4 integrin lead the way.
abstract: Although the genesis of invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) from stratified epithelia of the skin is considered to be a complex, multistage process, recent work on human epidermis reveals that sustained Ras signaling coupled with suppression of Ras-induced growth arrest is sufficient to drive the entire process and that the alpha6beta4 integrin and its laminin 5 ligand are essential components of this process.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Biology and Angiogenesis, Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA. amercuri@bid.mc.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Arthur M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Mercurio
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D011905:Genes, ras; D006801:Humans; D051550:I-kappa B Kinase; D039161:Integrin alpha6beta4 / Q000378:metabolism*; D007797:Laminin / Q000378:metabolism; D008024:Ligands; D008954:Models, Biological; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D018307:Neoplasms, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D018631:ras Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D039161:Integrin alpha6beta4; D007797:Laminin; D008024:Ligands; D016328:NF-kappa B; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; C496559:CHUK protein, human; D051550:I-kappa B Kinase; C496560:IKBKB protein, human; C496565:IKBKE protein, human; D018631:ras Proteins