Oncogenic Ras–Induced Expression of Cytokines: A New Target of Anti-Cancer Therapeutics

Inhibiting cytokine function impedes oncogenic Ras–driven tumor growth. Oncogenic Ras–mediated activation of cytokine gene transcription (double helix) in tumor cells (orange oval) leads to increased levels of cytokine mRNA (purple wavy line) and protein (blue spheres). The inhibition of cytokine activity may provide a means of treating Ras-driven cancers. Such inhibition has been effected by A) knockout of the cytokine-encoding gene; B) RNA interference (RNAi) targeting the cytokine mRNA; and C) anti-cytokine antibody–mediated neutralization. Each method of has been shown to inhibit Ras-dependent tumor growth. (See text for details.)