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The ERK1/2 MAP Kinase Signaling Pathway in Tumor Progression and Metastasis

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Signal Transduction in Cancer Metastasis

Part of the book series: Cancer Metastasis - Biology and Treatment ((CMBT,volume 15))

Abstract

The extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase module is a conserved signaling pathway that plays a major role in the control of cell proliferation, survival and differentiation. This pathway is typically turned on by engagement of growth factor receptors, which leads to the activation of the small GTPase Ras and to sequential phosphorylation and activation of Raf, MEK1/MEK2 and ERK1/ERK2 protein kinases. ERK1 and ERK2 are multifunctional Ser/Thr kinases that phosphorylate a panoply of substrates involved in multiple cellular processes. Hyperactivation of the ERK1/2 pathway is frequently observed in human malignancies as a result of aberrant activation of receptor tyrosine kinases or by gain-of-function mutations in RAS or RAF genes. This dysregulation is believed to provide a proliferation and survival advantage to cancer cells. Accumulating evidence suggest that the ERK1/2 signaling pathway also contributes to the increased motility, invasiveness and dissemination of tumor cells. In this chapter, we review the role of ERK1/2 MAP kinase signaling in the pathogenesis of tumor metastasis.

∗These authors contributed equally to this work

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Acknowledgments

Work in the author’s laboratory was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute of Canada and the Cancer Research Society. S. Duhamel is recipient of a studentship from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. S. Meloche holds the Canada Research Chair in Cellular Signaling.

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  1. Institut de Recherche en Immunologie et Cancérologie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3J7, Canada

    Laure Voisin∗ & Stéphanie Duhamel∗

  2. Departments Molecular Biology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3J7, Canada

    Stéphanie Duhamel∗

  3. Institut de Recherche en Immunologie et Cancérologie, Université de Montréal, 2950, Chemin de Polytechnique, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3C 3J7

    Sylvain Meloche

Authors
  1. Laure Voisin∗
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  2. Stéphanie Duhamel∗
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  3. Sylvain Meloche
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Correspondence to Sylvain Meloche .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Tzu-Chi University, College of Medicine, Institute of medical biotechnology, Chung-Yang Rd, Sec 3 701, Hualien, 970, Taiwan R.O.C.

    Wen-Sheng Wu

  2. Buddhist Tzu-Chi General Hospital, Department of Medicine, Research Center for Hepatology, Chung-Yang Rd, Sec 3 707, Hualien, 970, Taiwan R.O.C.

    Chi-Tan Hu

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Voisin∗, L., Duhamel∗, S., Meloche, S. (2010). The ERK1/2 MAP Kinase Signaling Pathway in Tumor Progression and Metastasis. In: Wu, WS., Hu, CT. (eds) Signal Transduction in Cancer Metastasis. Cancer Metastasis - Biology and Treatment, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9522-0_3

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