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Reviews

Principles of K-Ras effector organization and the role of oncogenic K-Ras in cancer initiation through G1 cell cycle deregulation

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References

• This is an excellent recent review uniquely detailing the post-translational modifications of Ras isoforms and how they regulate them

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•• PI3K is a major effector of Ras. Even though the review is already four years old, the information, and in particular the critical point of view that it presents is invaluable to the understanding of this key regulator, particularly considering its role in adenocarcinomas (see also reference 18)

• This review provides a nice overall view of K-Ras signaling in a disease where it contributes dominantly (the incidence of mutations is about 95%)

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• This review is unique in covering the Ral pathway. Most reviews focus on Raf and PI3K. The review also nicely details the contribution of this pathway to adenocarcinomas, which has been largely overlooked by the literature

•• This paper shows a very useful compilation and analysis of Ras mutations, to which cancer they contribute and via which isoform

•• This novel review highlights the role of calmodulin/calcium in cancers of ductal tisues (lung, pancreas, colorectal, breast and more), and in particular provides a detailed mechanism how. It explains why these cancers involve particularly K-Ras4B, the only Ras isoform which binds calmodulin

•• This paper unveils the two major dimer interfaces of K-Ras4B. This is important for understanding Ras regulation, drug discovery and nanostructures and as such has been the focus of a major drive in the community

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•• This is an excellent review overviewing pathways leading to senescence. A main advantage is in its providing pathway detail

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• The detailed structural characterization in this review is invaluable for understanding how the SARAH domains contribute to signaling

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•• This paper unveils the two major dimer interfaces of K-Ras4B. This is important for understanding Ras regulation, drug discovery and nanostructures and as such has been the focus of a major drive in the community

•• An excellent review of the regulation of transcription in the cell cycle focusing on the key G1 phase discussed here and the S phase as well

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• This review highlights the restriction point in deciding cell cycle progression and provides useful information

•• This is an outstanding paper discussing how cell contact and density act to suppress senescence

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• An important paper which provides a molecular view of Ras nanoclusters

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• The importance of this paper is in highlighting the relevance of information of structural pathways and how this can help in designing Ras therapeutics. It argues that structural pathways provide critical information in constructing combinatorial drug libraries

•• This paper observes the Yap pathway which is redundant to Ras. This is extremely important as the cell can exploit it in drug resistance

•• This paper also observes the Yap pathway which is redundant to Ras. This is extremely important as the cell can exploit it in drug resistance

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