Guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) belong to one of the best-understood superfamilies of signaling molecules, with over 100 members already on file. Different members modulate or control cellular growth, lipid metabolism, cytoarchitecture, membrane traffic, transcriptional regulation, response to genotoxic agents and apoptosis. One branch of these Ras proteins, the family of Rho proteins, cycle between an active and an inactive GTP/GDP-bound state, regulated by guanine exchange factors, guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitors and GTP-ase activating proteins. However, this seemingly tight and purposeful regulation is also very vulnerable: constitutive activation and overexpression can lead to uncontrolled growth, genetic instability and inhibition of normal apoptotic pathways. From here, tumor development is not far behind.
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