A novel oncogene, rsc (rabbit squamous cell carcinoma), has been identi®ed from a DMBA-induced rabbit squamous cell carcinoma using gene transfer and the nude mouse tumorigenesis assay. A full-length cDNA has been isolated and sequenced. rsc has potent tumorigenic activity in nude mice (latency 54 weeks), but does not induce focus formation or anchorage independent growth. The oncogene resulted from the fusion of rHR 23A (a rabbit homologue of yeast Rad 23) with a member of the ral-GDS family which we named rgr (ral-GDS related). Deletion analysis demonstrated that the oncogenic potential resides in the Rgr portion of the gene. Rgr is 40% identical overall to Ral-GDS, with identity increasing to 72% over a 100 amino acid region of the catalytic domain. Biochemical experiments indicate that Rgr has GTP/GDP exchange activity for Ral, providing evidence that this pathway is associated with tumorigenesis. The linkage between the Ral pathway and tumorigenesis by a molecule in the Ral-GDS gene family (Ral-GDS being a known e ector for Ras) will open the way for the characterization of this pathway and provide an important tool to understand its biological function.

Point mutations in ras genes have been found in a large number and wide variety of human tumors. These oncogenic Ras mutants are locked in an active GTP-bound state that leads to a constitutive and deregulated activation of Ras function. The dogma that ras oncogenes are dominant, whereby the mutation of a single allele in a cell will predispose the host cell to transformation regardless of the presence of the normal allele, is being challenged. We have seen that increasing amounts of Ras protooncogenes are able to inhibit the activity of the N-Ras oncogene in the activation of Elk in NIH 3T3 cells and in the formation of foci. We have been able to determine that the inhibitory effect is by competition between Ras protooncogenes and the N-Ras oncogene that occurs first at the effector level at the membranes, then at the processing level and lastly at the effector level in the cytosol. In addition, coexpression of the N-Ras protooncogene in thymic lymphomas induced by the N-Ras oncogene is associated with increased levels of p107, p130 and cyclin A and decreased levels of Rb. In the present report, we have shown that the N-Ras oncogene is not truly dominant over Ras protooncogenes and their competing activities might be depending on cellular context. Key words: oncogene inhibition; N-Ras; protooncogene; Ras processing; Ras effectors ras genes play an important role in a variety of differentiation processes and signal transduction, including the regulation of cell proliferation, vesicle movement, cell survival, T-cell activation, apoptosis and cytoskeleton. 1,2 The 3 ras genes encode 4 highly related proteins of 21 kd in size that are ubiquitously expressed: N-Ras, H-Ras, K-RasA and K-RasB. 2,3 Ras is synthesized on free ribosomes as a soluble inactive protein that requires several posttranslational modifications in order to reach the cell membranes where it exhibits its biologic activity. These modifications include prenylation, proteolysis, carboxymethylation and palmitoylation. 4 -7 Once activated by ligand-mediated extracellular stimuli, Ras induces the activation of effector molecules to propagate downstream signals in the cytoplasm and nucleus of the cell. Ras effectors preferentially bind to Ras-GTP through the effector domain loop found in amino acids 32-40. There are several different mammalian proteins that have been described as Ras effectors: Raf, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), Ral GDP dissociation stimulator (RalGDS), members of the Rho family, mitogen-activating protein kinase 1 (MEKK1), Nore1, among others. 2,3,8 Specific point mutations in ras genes at codons 12, 13 and 61 have been found in a large number and wide variety of human tumors. 9 These mutations render Ras as an oncogene since it is constitutively active (in the GTP-bound form), leading to a deregulated activation of Ras function. 2,3,5,9 -11 In order to dissect the effects of the different downstream pathways of Ras, oncogenic mutants in the effector domain of Ras have been characterized. Thus, Ras/V12/E38 binds Raf and not PI3...

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