Arvin C. Dar, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator '14-'16) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, reported that a “scaffolding protein” called the kinase suppressor of Ras (KSR) could be targeted as a way to disrupt signaling from mutant Ras protein. About 25 percent of human cancers have mutations in the Ras protein that disrupt growth signals and cause tumor development. The researchers tested over 170 compounds and discovered that one could effectively slow cancer growth. These findings lay a foundation for an entirely new class of drugs that, when used in combination with other therapies, could provide new effective treatment options for some of the hardest-to-treat cancers. The study was published in the journal Nature.
