BioCentury
ARTICLE | Cover Story

Interfacing with Ras

June 20, 2013 7:00 AM UTC

A German team has identified a compound that disrupts a protein-protein interaction that localizes K-Ras to the cell membrane, thus inhibiting tumor growth.1 The interface provides a new small molecule binding site for the handful of companies and academics working on ways to tackle the previously undruggable Ras family.

Ras proteins are molecular switches that control cell growth and proliferation. Mutations and other mechanisms that aberrantly activate Ras signaling can promote tumorigenesis...