NCIt definition : A natural or synthetic peptide derived from the Ras protein with potential use in
cancer immunotherapy. Ras protein regulates a number of signalling molecules by translocating
them to the plasma membrane for activation and may serve as a branchpoint in signal
transduction because it orchestrates the activity of multiple signalling pathways
to regulate diverse cellular functions. Ras-12 Ala is a mutated form of the wild-type
Ras protein in which the amino acid glycine at codon 12 is replaced with alanine.
Vaccination with mutated Ras proteins or peptides may stimulate cytotoxic host immune
responses to tumor cells that express similarly mutated Ras proteins. (NCI04);