Cancer is initiated by activation of oncogenes or inactivation of tumor
suppressor genes. Mutations in the K-ras proto-oncogene are responsible
for 10-30% of adenocarcinomas. Clinical Findings point to a wide variety
of other cancers contributing to lung cancer incidence. Such a scenario
makes identification of lung cancer difficult and thus identifying its
mechanisms can contribute to the society. Identifying unique conserved
patterns common to contributing proto-oncogenes may further be a boon to
Pharmacogenomics and pharmacoinformatics. This calls for ab initio/de
novo drug discovery that in turn will require a comprehensive in silico
approach of Sequence, Domain, Phylogenetic and Structural analysis of
the receptors, ligand screening and optimization and detailed Docking
studies.
This brief involves extensive role of the RAS subfamily that includes a
set of proteins, which cause an over expression of cancer-causing genes
like M-ras and initiate tumour formation in lungs. SNP Studies and
Structure based drug discovery will also be undertaken.