title: Ral GTPases in tumorigenesis: emerging from the shadows.
abstract: Oncogenic Ras proteins rely on a series of key effector pathways to drive the physiological changes that lead to tumorigenic growth. Of these effector pathways, the RalGEF pathway, which activates the two Ras-related GTPases RalA and RalB, remains the most poorly understood. This review will focus on key developments in our understanding of Ral biology, and will speculate on how aberrant activation of the multiple diverse Ral effector proteins might collectively contribute to oncogenic transformation and other aspects of tumor progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA. kashatus@virginia.edu
authors.forename: David F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Kashatus
mesh_terms: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020690:GTPase-Activating Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D011485:Protein Binding; D025941:Protein Interaction Mapping; D015398:Signal Transduction; D020725:ral GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D020690:GTPase-Activating Proteins; C095637:RALBP1 protein, human; C483163:Ralb protein, human; C492198:RALA protein, human; D020725:ral GTP-Binding Proteins
keywords: Exocyst; RalA; RalB; RalBP1; RalGEF; Ras