Ras and Rho GTPases on the move: The RasGRF connection

Abstract

Metastasis involves tumour cells moving through tissues and crossing tissue boundaries, which requires cell migration, remodelling of cell-to-cell contacts and interactions with the extracellular matrix. Individual tumour cells move in three-dimensional environments with either a rounded “ameboid” or an elongated 'mesenchymal' morphology. These two modes of movement are tightly regulated by Rho family GTPases: elongated movement requires activation of Rac1, whereas rounded movement engages specific Cdc42 and Rho signalling pathways. It has been known for some time that events unfolding downstream of Ras GTPases are also involved in regulating multiple aspects of cell migration and invasion. More recently, RasGRF2 -a Ras activator- has been identified as a suppressor of rounded movement, by inhibiting the activation of Cdc42, independently of its capacity to activate Ras. Here, we discuss how Rho and Ras signals can either cooperate or oppose each other in the regulation of cell migration and invasion.