Scientists identify additional challenges in KRAS-driven cancers

Cancers driven by – and dependent on – the potent mutated cancer gene KRAS have an especially poor prognosis, and three decades of scientific attempts have failed to produce drugs that can attack KRAS and halt the tumors’ runaway growth. A renewed assault on the problem is underway, but researchers report they have identified a backup genetic pathway that can enable cancer cells to survive and thrive in the absence of KRAS. If and when it becomes possible to shut down the oncogene in human cancers, the findings suggest, this escape mechanism will have to be blocked as well to kill the tumor cells. Read more here.