Renegades of cell biology: why K-Ras gene mutations prove so deadly in cancer

Cells with a mutation in the gene called K-Ras—found in close to 30 percent of all cancers, but mostly those with worst prognosis, such as pancreatic cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer—behave in ways that subvert the normal mechanisms of cell death, according to a cell-culture study by researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah. Normal cells need survival signals from the tissue that surrounds them to remain alive. Other research has shown cells with the K-Ras mutation can survive and direct their own fate without these signals. Read more here.

Study mentioned: Slattum G, et al. Autophagy in Oncogenic K-Ras Promotes Basal Extrusion of Epithelial Cells by Degrading S1P. Current Biology, online 19 December 2013.