Question

A single amino acid change in Ras eliminates its ability to hydrolyze GTP, even in the presence of a GTPase-activating protein (GAP). Roughly 30% of human cancers have this change in Ras. You have just identified a small molecule that prevents the dimerization of a receptor tyrosine kinase that signals via Ras. Would you expect this molecule to be effective in the treatment of cancers that express wild type or mutant form of Ras

Answer 1

Yes, this molecule will be useful in the treatment of cancer.

Explanation:

Generally ligand binds to RTK——————— > RTK dimer formation————— > autophosphorylation occurs in RTK—————— > RTK activation—————— > This RTK activates RAS—————- > which activates many cellular processes————- > cancer.

Already, it nanoparticle stops RTK dimerization. As a result, RTK will not be triggered but the above-described sequence of activities would not be able to happen (from bold above); therefore, cancer can be precluded.