title: Past, Present, and Future of Targeting Ras for Cancer Therapies.
abstract: For decades, mutant Ras (mut-Ras) proteins have been identified as drivers of multiple cancers including pancreatic, lung, and colon cancers. However, targeting this oncogene has been challenging and no Ras inhibitors are on the market to date. Lately several candidates targeting the downstream pathways of Ras signaling, including PI3K and Raf, were approved for cancer treatment. However, they do not present promising therapeutic effects on patients harboring Ras mutations. Recently, a variety of compounds have been reported to impair the activity of Ras, and these exciting discoveries reignite the hope for development of novel drugs targeting mut-Ras. In this article, we will review the progress made in this field and the current state-of-the-art technologies to develop Ras inhibitors. Also we will discuss the future direction of targeting Ras.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Integrated Molecular Discovery Laboratory, Department of Experimental Therapeutics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA. shuzhang@mdanderson.org.
authors.forename: Shuxing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D054852:Small Molecule Libraries / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018631:ras Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D054852:Small Molecule Libraries; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D018631:ras Proteins