Ras induces NBT-II epithelial cell scattering through the coordinate activities of Rac and MAPK pathways.

Cell dissociation and cell migration are the two main components of epithelium-mesenchyme transitions (EMT). We previously demonstrated that Ras is required for the accomplishment of both of these processes during the EGF-induced EMT of the NBT-II rat carcinoma cell line in vitro. In this study, we examined the downstream targets of Ras that are responsible for the dissociation and motility of NBT-II cells.