Targeting Ras-RAF-ERK and its interactive pathways as a novel therapy for malignant gliomas.

ABSTRACT: Malignant gliomas are the most common and the deadliest brain malignancies in adults. Despite the lack of a complete understanding of the biology of these tumors, significant advances have been made in the past decades. One of the key discoveries made in the area of malignant gliomas is that these tumors can be induced and maintained by aberrant signaling networks. In this context, the Ras pathway has been extensively exploited, from both basic and translational perspectives. Although somatic oncogenic mutations of Ras genes are frequent in several cancer types, early investigations on gliomas revealed disappointing facts that the Ras mutations are nearly absent in malignant gliomas and that the BRAF mutations are present in a very small percentage of gliomas. Therefore, the observed dereg

SUBMITTER: Lo HW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3615246 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature