Activation of the human ras oncogene by point mutation
Activación del oncogén ras humano por mutación puntual
- Date
- 1982 · confidence medium
- Place
- Frederick, Maryland, United States
- Credited to
- Mariano Barbacid, Eugenio Santos and E. Premkumar Reddy (NCI)
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Mariano Barbacid's group at the US National Cancer Institute showed that the HRAS oncogene isolated from a human bladder carcinoma differs from the normal gene in a single nucleotide, and that this point mutation is enough to transform the cell. It was the first proof that a point mutation activates a human oncogene.
A simultaneous, independent discovery by three groups in 1982: Barbacid (NCI), Weinberg (MIT) and Wigler (Cold Spring Harbor), with key work by Reddy, Taparowsky and others. The milestone focuses on the contribution of Barbacid's group, published in Nature (1982).
What it led to
- RAS mutations as a frequent cause of cancer (pancreas, colon, lung)
- targeted inhibitors of KRAS G12C (sotorasib, 2021)
- cancer as a disease of single-gene point mutations