Small GTPases of the RAS and RHO families are related signaling proteins that, when activated by growth factors or by mutation, drive oncogenic processes. While activating mutations in KRAS, NRAS, and HRAS genes have long been recognized and occur in many types of cancer, similar mutations in RHO family genes, such as RAC1 and RHOA, have only recently been detected as the result of extensive cancer genome-sequencing efforts and are linked to a restricted set of malignancies. In this review, we focus on the role of RAC1 signaling in malignant melanoma, emphasizing recent advances that describe how this oncoprotein alters melanocyte proliferation and motility and how these findings might lead to new therapeutics in RAC1-mutant tumors.

RAS和RHO家族的小GTP酶是相关的信号蛋白，当被生长因子或突变激活时，它们会驱动致癌过程。尽管激活KRAS，NRAS和HRAS基因中的突变早已被认识并发生在许多类型的癌症中，但RHO家族基因中的类似突变，例如RAC1和RHOA由于广泛的癌症基因组测序努力，直到最近才检测到，并且与有限的一组恶性肿瘤有关。在这篇综述中，我们着重于RAC1信号在恶性黑色素瘤中的作用，强调了最近的进展，这些进展描述了这种癌蛋白如何改变黑色素细胞的增殖和运动性，以及这些发现如何导致RAC1突变型肿瘤的新疗法。