Two important Ras guanine nucleotide exchange factors, Son of sevenless (Sos) and Ras guanine nucleotide releasing protein (RasGRP), have been implicated in controlling Ras activation when cell surface receptors are stimulated. To address the specificity or redundancy of these exchange factors, we have generated Sos1/Sos2 double- or RasGRP3-deficient B cell lines and determined their ability to...

To date, no gene expression comparisons have been conducted between highly salt tolerant halophytes and related glycophytes. Therefore, I investigated the effects of salinity on ion accumulation and expression of candidate salt tolerance genes in the highly tolerant salt accumulating halophyte Salicornia dolichostachya and the taxonomically related glycophytic Spinacia oleracea. S. dolichostach...

Introduction RASopathies (Noonan syndrome (NS) and Noonan-related syndromes) are neurodevelopmental syndromes resulting from germline mutations in genes that participate in the rat sarcoma/mitogen-activated protein kinases (RAS/ MAPK) pathway (PTPN11, SOS1, RAF, KRAS or NRAS and SHOC2). Some monogenic conditions are associated with the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and a fe...

The integrin αvβ6 is up-regulated in numerous carcinomas, where expression commonly correlates with poor prognosis. αvβ6 promotes tumour invasion, partly through regulation of proteases and cell migration, and is also the principal mechanism by which epithelial cells activate TGF-β1; this latter function complicates therapeutic targeting of αvβ6, since TGF-β1 has both tumour-promoting and -supp...

Abstract Summary: Guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEF) control the rate-limiting step of physiologic RAS activation. In this issue Cancer Discovery, Hofmann and colleagues describe discovery a selective inhibitor targeting GEF, SOS1, along with its preclinical effects in suppressing KRAS-mutant tumor growth. See related article by et al., p. 142.

Cell migration in 3D microenvironments is fundamental to development, homeostasis and the pathobiology of diseases such as cancer. Rab-coupling protein (RCP) dependent co-trafficking of α5β1 and EGFR1 promotes cancer cell invasion into fibronectin (FN) containing extracellular matrix (ECM), by potentiating EGFR1 signalling at the front of invasive cells. This promotes a switch in RhoGTPase sign...