The involvement of activated ras genes in determining the transformed phenotype

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Abstract
Activated ras oncogenes have been identified in a wide range of tumours. All examples of ras gene activation in tumours so far result from amino acid substitution at Gly 12 or Gln 61 . To learn more about how mutations in ras genes lead to transformation, we have analysed transforming growth factor production in NIH/3T3 cells transformed by each of the three ras genes. These results show that the transformed phenotype of these cells results from a combination of the presence of the mutant ras protein and TGFα production. In a second series of experiments we have shown that the mutation of a ras gene in a tumour cell line can lead to tumour progression towards a more aggressive phenotype.