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Updated: Jun 24, 2025

Characterize Disease-related Mutants of RAF Family Kinases by Using a Set of Practical and Feasible Methods
Published on: July 17, 2019
Defining the KRAS- and ERK-dependent transcriptome in KRAS-mutant cancers
Jeffrey A Klomp1,2, Jennifer E Klomp1, Clint A Stalnecker1,2
1Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
None:
How the KRAS oncogene drives cancer growth remains poorly understood. Therefore, we established a systemwide portrait of KRAS- and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-dependent gene transcription in KRAS-mutant cancer to delineate the molecular mechanisms of growth and of inhibitor resistance. Unexpectedly, our KRAS-dependent gene signature diverges substantially from the frequently cited Hallmark KRAS signaling gene signature, is driven predominantly through the ERK mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade, and accurately reflects KRAS- and ERK-regulated gene transcription in KRAS-mutant cancer patients. Integration with our ERK-regulated phospho- and total proteome highlights ERK deregulation of the anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) and other components of the cell cycle machinery as key processes that drive pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) growth. Our findings elucidate mechanistically the critical role of ERK in driving KRAS-mutant tumor growth and in resistance to KRAS-ERK MAPK targeted therapies.
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