MEK Inhibitors

Cell Signaling, Genetic Biomarkers, and Clinical Trial Agents

Some of the biomarkers in Clearity Foundation�s Tumor Blueprint are altered versions of genes involved in signaling pathways that tell a cell when to grow and divide. The presence of the altered genes is correlated with response to certain drugs that are being tested in clinical trials.

The diagram below shows some of these cell signaling pathways, along with the genes involved in various steps of the pathway. Some genes promote a particular step (indicated by an arrow) and spur cell growth . Other genes inhibit a step in the pathway (indicated by a ) and prevent cells from growing and dividing in an uncontrolled way.

Some of the alterations we detect result in that gene being more active than it would normally be (shown in green), while others cause the gene to be less active (shown in red). Increased activity of a gene involved in promoting cell growth and division, or decreased activity of a gene that inhibits these processes, can lead to the uncontrolled growth seen in cancers.