A conserved RAS/mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway regulates DNA damage-induced cell death postirradiation in Radelegans.

Although the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway is overactive in more than half of human cancers and mediates resistance to cytotoxic therapy, the molecular mechanisms of EGFR pathway-mediated resistance have remained elusive in cancer research. This difficulty partly stems from the lack of tissue models enabling clear separation of the many forms of cell death that the downstream signaling pathways of EGFR affect. We have created a model in Caenorhabditis elegans of radiation-induced reproductive cell death ("Radelegans") in isolation of all other forms of cell death.