Encyclopedia of Cancer

Living Edition
| Editors: Manfred Schwab

KRAS

Living reference work entry
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_6870-6
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Synonyms

C-K-RAS; KI-RAS; Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homologue; KRAS1; KRAS2; K-RAS2A; K-RAS2B; K-RAS4A; K-RAS4B, NS; NS3; RASK2; v-Ki-ras2

Definition

The KRAS gene is the human cellular homologue of a transforming gene isolated from the Kirsten rat sarcoma virus. It belongs to the mammalian RAS gene family, which name derived from “rat sarcoma” and which most studied members are KRAS, HRAS, and NRAS. These genes encode proteins with a molecular mass of 21 kD and the three are homologues of rodent sarcoma virus genes that have transforming abilities.

While these wild-type cellular proteins in humans play a vital role in normal tissue signaling, including proliferation, differentiation, and senescence, mutated genes are potent oncogenes that play an essential role in many human cancers.

  • Approved symbol from the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) database: KRAS

  • Previous name: v-Ki-ras2 Kirsten rat sarcoma 2 viral oncogene homologue. Previous symbol: KRAS2

  • Also known as KRAS1...

Keywords

Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Pancreatic Cancer KRAS Mutation Endometrial Adenocarcinoma KRAS Gene 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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References

  1. Bos JL (1989) Ras oncogenes in human cancer: a review. Cancer Res 49:4682–4689PubMedGoogle Scholar
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  4. O’Hagan RC, Heyer J (2011) KRAS mouse models: modeling cancer harboring KRAS mutations. Genes Cancer 2:335–343PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Pulciani S, Santos E, Lauver AV, Long LK, Aaronson SA, Barbacid M (1982) Oncogenes in solid human tumours. Nature 300:539–542PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Unidad de InvestigaciónComplejo Hospitalario Universitario de AlbaceteAlbaceteSpain