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Updated: May 22, 2026

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Characterize Disease-related Mutants of RAF Family Kinases by Using a Set of Practical and Feasible Methods
Published on: July 17, 2019
Clinical and proteomic characterization of acute myeloid leukemia with mutated RAS
Tapan M Kadia1, Hagop Kantarjian, Steven Kornblau
1Department of Leukemia, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. tkadia@mdanderson.org
Cancer
|May 10, 2012
Summary
Activating RAS mutations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients were analyzed. While not impacting overall survival, RAS mutations may predict benefit from cytarabine therapy and targeted RAS/PI3K pathway inhibitors.
Area of Science:
- Hematology
- Oncology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Activating RAS mutations are common in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
- The prognostic significance of RAS mutations in AML remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize clinical features of RAS-mutated (RAS(mut)) AML.
- To analyze treatment outcomes in RAS(mut) AML.
- To compare proteomic profiles of RAS(mut) and wild-type RAS (RAS(WT)) AML.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 609 newly diagnosed AML patients.
- Clinical data, cytogenetics, and proteomic profiles were analyzed.
- Outcomes were assessed based on therapy and RAS mutation status.
Main Results:
- 11% of AML patients had RAS mutations.
- RAS(mut) AML patients were younger with higher WBC and blast counts.
- No significant impact of RAS mutations on overall or disease-free survival was observed.
- A potential benefit from cytarabine (AraC)-based therapy was suggested for RAS(mut) AML.
- Upregulation of RAS-Raf-MAP kinase and PI3K pathways was noted in RAS(mut) AML.
Conclusions:
- RAS mutations may identify AML patients who benefit from AraC-based therapy.
- RAS-mutated AML may be treatable with RAS and PI3K signaling pathway inhibitors.
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