RESUMO
The precise molecular events involved in the development of drug resistance (DR) remain largely unknown. Raf is an intermediate in the signal transduction cascades initiated by growth factors. The hypothesis behind the following studies is that deregulated Raf-1 expression plays a role in the development of drug resistance. A positive correlation was observed between increased Raf-1 activity and increased values for IC50 for doxorubicin in established cell lines. The National Cancer Institute/Adriamycin Resistant (NCI/ADR-RES) cell line exhibited both the highest Raf-1 activity and the highest IC50 values for doxorubicin (Adriamycin). In contrast, the MCF-7 cell line exhibited both lower Raf activity and lower IC50 values for doxorubicin. While MCF-7 cells transfected with either constitutively active DeltaRaf-1 or conditionally active DeltaRaf-1:AR demonstrated increased IC50 values for doxorubicin and a reduced capacity to undergo apoptosis after doxorubicin treatment as compared with parental cell lines. Moreover, growth curves performed show that both the constitutively and conditionally active forms of Raf-1 do not increase growth as compared with the parental MCF-7 cell line. This is important because it implies that higher cell counts between Raf transfectants and the parental MCF-7 cell line are attributable to differences in DR, not growth rates. These observations suggest a role for the Raf-1 protooncogene in the regulation of DR.
Assuntos
Antineoplásicos/farmacologia , Doxorrubicina/farmacologia , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-raf/fisiologia , Transdução de Sinais , Anexina A5/metabolismo , Apoptose/efeitos dos fármacos , Divisão Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Sobrevivência Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Relação Dose-Resposta a Droga , Resistencia a Medicamentos Antineoplásicos , Citometria de Fluxo , Expressão Gênica , Proteínas de Fluorescência Verde , Humanos , Proteínas Luminescentes/genética , Proteínas Luminescentes/metabolismo , Microscopia Confocal , Plasmídeos/genética , Ligação Proteica , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-raf/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/metabolismo , Testosterona/farmacologia , Células Tumorais Cultivadas/efeitos dos fármacosRESUMO
This review focuses on the Ras-Raf-mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK)-extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signal transduction pathway and the consequences of its unregulation in the development of cancer. The roles of some of the cell membrane receptors involved in the activation of this pathway, the G-protein Ras, the Raf, MEK and ERK kinases, the phosphatases that regulate these kinases, as well as the downstream transcription factors that become activated, are discussed. The roles of the Ras-Raf-MEK-ERK pathway in the regulation of apoptosis and cell cycle progression are also analyzed. In addition, potential targets for pharmacological intervention in growth factor-responsive cells are evaluated.