title: Ras and autophagy in cancer development and therapy.
abstract: Autophagy, a process of self-degradation and turnover of cellular components, plays a complex role in cancer. Evidence exists to show that autophagy may support tumor growth and cell survival, whereas it can also contribute to tumor suppression and have anti-survival characteristics in different cellular systems. Numerous studies have described the effects of various oncogenes and tumor suppressors on autophagy. The small GTPase Ras is an oncogene involved in the regulation of various cell-signaling pathways, and is mutated in 33% of human cancers. In the present review, we discuss the interplay between Ras and autophagy in relation to oncogenesis. It appears that Ras can upregulate or downregulate autophagy through several signaling pathways. In turn, autophagy can affect the tumorigenicity driven by Ras, resulting in either tumor progression or repression, depending on the cellular context. Furthermore, Ras inhibitors were shown to induce autophagy in several cancer cell lines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology. Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Eran
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schmukler
authors.forename: Yoel
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kloog
authors.forename: Ronit
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pinkas-Kramarski
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy / Q000235:genetics*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D011905:Genes, ras; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D015398:Signal Transduction