RAF1

RAF1 Background

RAF proto-oncogene serine/threonine-protein kinase is a protein in humans that is encoded by RAF1 gene ^[1][2]. RAF1 is part of a signaling pathway called the RAS/MAPK pathway, which transmits chemical signals from outside the cell to the cell's nucleus. RAS/MAPK signaling helps control the growth and division (proliferation) of cells, the process by which cells mature to carry out specific functions (differentiation), cell movement (migration), and the self-destruction of cells (apoptosis). As a serine/threonine-protein kinase, RAF1 acts as a regulatory link between the membrane-associated Ras GTPases and the MAPK/ERK cascade, and this critical regulatory link functions as a switch determining cell fate decisions including proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, survival and oncogenic transformation. RAF1 activation initiates a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade that comprises a sequential phosphorylation of the dual-specific MAPK kinases (MAP2K1/MEK1 and MAP2K2/MEK2) and the extracellular signal-regulated kinases (MAPK3/ERK1 and MAPK1/ERK2).

[1] Li P, Wood K, Mamon H, Haser W, Roberts T (February 1991). "Raf-1: a kinase currently without a cause but not lacking in effects". Cell. 64 (3): 479–82.
[2] Rapp UR, Goldsborough MD, Mark GE, Bonner TI, Groffen J, Reynolds FH, Stephenson JR (July 1983). "Structure and biological activity of v-raf, a unique oncogene transduced by a retrovirus". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 80 (14): 4218–22.