Cancer is a disease in which growth stimulatory pathways are excessively active. Considerable experimental evidence implicates Ras proteins as essential components of growth stimulatory signal transduction pathways. Moreover, oncogenic forms of Ras are expressed in a variety of human cancers with a strikingly high prevalence (>90%) in pancreatic cancer. The long term objective of this research project is to define the precise role that oncogenic Ras plays in tumorigenesis. The combined efforts of many groups, including our own, have led to the identification of multiple effector pathways that are controlled by Ras. The goal of the studies proposed in this application is to characterize the cellular responses that are triggered by Ras-dependent effector pathways, and to assess the relevance of these responses to tumor initiation and progression.
Our specific aims are as follows:? 1. To identify effector pathways that couple the oncogenic activation of Ras to the metastatic phenotype.? 2. To define the mechanisms by which Ras controls tumor-stroma interactions.? 3. To delineate the function of Ras in pancreatic tumorigenesis.? ? Collectively, the studies to be pursued within the framework of this proposal will advance our mechanistic understanding of growth control perturbation that are critical for oncogenic transformation and, as such, may lead to the identification of new modalities for therapeutic intervention.? ? ? NEW AIMS ? 1 The elucidation of cross-talk mechanisms between Ras and Rho GTPases.? 2 The identification of a novel mediator of Ras-induced tumorigenesis.? 3 The establishment of a unique cell culture system for studying the role of oncogenic Ras in the initiation of pancreatic cancer.? 4 The discovery of a new modality for regulating the signaling activity of Ras.?
| Grabocka, Elda; Commisso, Cosimo; Bar-Sagi, Dafna (2015) Molecular pathways: targeting the dependence of mutant RAS cancers on the DNA damage response. Clin Cancer Res 21:1243-7 |
| Grabocka, Elda; Pylayeva-Gupta, Yuliya; Jones, Mathew J K et al. (2014) Wild-type H- and N-Ras promote mutant K-Ras-driven tumorigenesis by modulating the DNA damage response. Cancer Cell 25:243-56 |
| Pylayeva-Gupta, Yuliya; Lee, Kyoung Eun; Bar-Sagi, Dafna (2013) Microdissection and culture of murine pancreatic ductal epithelial cells. Methods Mol Biol 980:267-79 |
| Pylayeva-Gupta, Yuliya; Lee, Kyoung Eun; Hajdu, Cristina H et al. (2012) Oncogenic Kras-induced GM-CSF production promotes the development of pancreatic neoplasia. Cancer Cell 21:836-47 |
| Zheng, Ze-Yi; Xu, Lizhong; Bar-Sagi, Dafna et al. (2012) Escorting Ras. Small GTPases 3:236-9 |
| Jeng, Hao-Hsuan; Taylor, Laura J; Bar-Sagi, Dafna (2012) Sos-mediated cross-activation of wild-type Ras by oncogenic Ras is essential for tumorigenesis. Nat Commun 3:1168 |
| Mallen-St Clair, Jon; Soydaner-Azeloglu, Rengin; Lee, Kyoung Eun et al. (2012) EZH2 couples pancreatic regeneration to neoplastic progression. Genes Dev 26:439-44 |
| Ochi, Atsuo; Nguyen, Andrew H; Bedrosian, Andrea S et al. (2012) MyD88 inhibition amplifies dendritic cell capacity to promote pancreatic carcinogenesis via Th2 cells. J Exp Med 209:1671-87 |
| Pylayeva-Gupta, Yuliya; Grabocka, Elda; Bar-Sagi, Dafna (2011) RAS oncogenes: weaving a tumorigenic web. Nat Rev Cancer 11:761-74 |
| Lee, Kyoung Eun; Bar-Sagi, Dafna (2010) Oncogenic KRas suppresses inflammation-associated senescence of pancreatic ductal cells. Cancer Cell 18:448-58 |
Showing the most recent 10 out of 51 publications
