KRAS, the cancer protein targeted by research for future treatments

Researchers estimate that each cell contains 30,000 different genes, if one of them undergoes a mutation in a proto-oncogene (a type of gene that in its normal state regulates cell growth and division) is converted into an oncogenea strain of the gene that can start to become an oncogene. tumor cell.

When the immune system detects a mutated cell and is able to eliminate it, it will pose no threat, even if the cell itself locates the error and commits suicide. On the other hand, if the mutation occurs along with other changes in the cell’s genome and blocks the apoptosis or cell suicide will result in cancer, since they go unnoticed by the immune system. Apoptosis is a type of cell death in which a series of molecular processes lead the cell to its death.

One of the oncogenes frequently found mutated in various tumors is the protein KRAS (abbreviation of oncogene homologous to the virus Kirsten of rat sarcoma.). The protein has been termed “cursed”, as it is mutated. from form more most common form of cancer: it is present in approximately 1 in 4 affected.

This observation has meant one of the major therapeutic milestones in the fight against this disease since its first diagnosis in 1982. Mutations in the KRAS are concentrated in one of its constituent molecules, specifically in the amino acid 12 (it can also be at 13 and 61), which cause the activation of the protein.

The mutation G12C is the change of the amino acid glycine at position 12. for a cysteine, the most frequent in lung cancer patients with KRAS mutated. In addition, the 13% of all patients with this type of cancer appears to be present in some patients with colorectal and pancreatic cancer. For the record, cysteine is a nonessential amino acid that can be synthesized by humans.

In response to the research, the approval of KRAS inhibitors is the effect of various strategies for trying to block the activity of mutated KRAS, since doing so directly has been a great difficulty, both because of the characteristics of the protein itself and because of the high toxicity generated by the drugs.

In short, and according to BBCIn May 2021, in May 2021, the first KRAS received the approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).. The inhibitor acts specifically against the mutated KRASG12C for the treatment of lung cancer and carries the trade name Sotorasib (AMG510). Last year, in January 2022, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) also gave its approval to Sotorasib for approval.

Finally, the FDA has been evaluating the approval of yet another inhibitor to the same mutation, the Adagrasib (MRTX 849). Research appears to be progressing, these are the five things that have been found to be linked to cancer in 2022.