Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 9, 2025

Detection of a Circulating MicroRNA Custom Panel in Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Published on: March 14, 2019
Proto-Oncogene HRAS Transcript Level and Overall Survival in Stages II and III Colorectal Cancer
Donghyun Kim1, Saima Sharif1, Juan Antonio Raygoza Garay2
1Division of Hematology, Oncology and Blood & Marrow Transplantation, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
Background:
Mutational landscape is prognostic in colorectal cancer (CRC). Rat sarcoma (RAS) oncogenes, such as KRAS and NRAS, with driver mutations, portend poor survival outcomes, whereas pathologic mutations in HRAS are extremely rare, and their prognostic value remains uncertain.
Methods:
This retrospective study analyzed the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN) alliance tumor RNA-Seq data in Stages II and III CRC to investigate the association between RAS gene expression and survival outcomes.
Results:
High transcript levels of HRAS were associated with superior overall survival (OS). The high HRAS-associated OS benefit was most pronounced in patients with right-sided primary expressing low KRAS transcript levels in the absence of pathologic KRAS mutations.
Conclusions:
Contrary to the notion that RAS family genes are proto-oncogenic, this study demonstrates that high HRAS transcript levels are associated with superior OS in Stages II and III CRC. The potential of HRAS as a prognostic biomarker should be explored further.
Related Concept Videos
The Ras Gene
Ras is a...
Cancer-Critical Genes I: Proto-oncogenes
When the function of certain critical genes, especially those involved in cell cycle regulation and cell growth signaling cascades, gets disrupted, it upsets the cell cycle progression. Such cells with unchecked cell cycles start proliferating uncontrollably and eventually develop into tumors.
Such genes that act...
Hazard Ratio
For example, in a clinical trial...
Small GTPases - Ras and Rho
Three regulatory proteins control their activity:
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression
The mTOR pathway or the...
Cancer-Critical Genes II: Tumor Suppressor Genes
When the function of certain critical genes, especially those involved in cell cycle regulation and cell growth signaling cascades, gets disrupted, it upsets the cell cycle progression. Such cells with unchecked cell cycles start proliferating uncontrollably and eventually develop into tumors.
Such genes that act...

