Expression of the Rac1 GTPase and its splice variant Rac1b in human glioblastomas

Introduction: Glioblastomas (GBM) are devastating tumours of the CNS. Proliferation, migration and invasion of glioma cells are key molecular events responsible for the short survival of GBM patients. As monomeric GTPases of the Rho-family participate in these oncogenic events we investigated the expression of Rac1 and its splice variant Rac1b in GBM's. Rac1b contains an additional exon (19 amino acids) inserted behind the switch region II, which is involved in protein interaction. Datas suggest that Rac1b is more potent to activate downstream effector pathways and is significantly increased in breast and colon…