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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 2010 Dec;39(4):801–810. doi: 10.1016/j.ecl.2010.08.002

Figure 3.

Figure 3

RAS, an intracellular G protein, is phosphorylated, leading to activation of RAF (depicted as BRAF). Once RAF is activated it in turn phosphorylates mitogen-activated protein kinase (MEK) which in turn phosphorylates and activates the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). Once activated, ERK phosphorylates cytoplasmic proteins and translocates into the nucleus, where it regulates transcription of genes involved in cell differentiation, proliferation, and survival.

Reprinted with permission from: Houben R, Michel B, Vetter-Kauczok C, et al. Absence of classical MAP kinase pathway signalling in Merkel cell carcinoma. J Invest Dermatol 2006;126(5):1135–1142.