ERAS function in mammary gland tumorigenesis

"ERAS function in mammary gland tumorigenesis"

ERAS is a gene that belongs to the Ras family, which encodes a constitutively active protein. Previous works carried out in our laboratory focused to the identification of new genes implicated in mammary gland tumorigenesis have revealed that ERAS is one of such genes. Transgenic mice overexpressing this gene in skin and mammary glands are prone to the development of carcinomas. Our proposal is to perform gene expression analysis by DNA microarrays for the characterization of the molecules and signaling pathways altered in the mammary glands of transgenic mice, in order to understand the molecular determinants of the transforming capacity of ERAS. This information will be confirmed by other analyses of genetic expression (e.g., western blots, qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, etc.).