Company: ERAS
Filing Date: 2025-03-20
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-042682
Chunk: 13

Company: Erasca, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-20
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 13
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 to explore partnerships in selected geographies to maximize the worldwide commercial potential of our programs.

Our singular focus on the RAS/MAPK pathway

Background

The RAS/MAPK pathway is one of the most frequently altered signaling pathways in cancer. Molecular alterations in key signaling nodes within the RAS/MAPK pathway have been shown to drive cell proliferation across a wide range of tumor types. As described further below, our pipeline targets all of the key signaling nodes colored in purple, either directly or indirectly as single agents and in combination in order to prolong survival in a wide range of patient populations.

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EGFR

RTKs like EGFR are proteins that are embedded in the cell membrane and relay growth signals from the outside environment to the cell’s internal machinery. At rest, these proteins reside on the cell membrane as inactive monomers. Growth factors secreted by nearby cells bind to specific RTKs, such as epidermal growth factor (EGF) binding to EGFR, and cause these RTKs to dimerize. Dimerized RTKs activate one another through transphosphorylation of their intracellular regions. Intracellular proteins, such as adapter proteins, bind to these phosphorylated regions and propagate the pro-growth signals within the cell via one or more signaling pathways. Cells express a variety of RTKs so that environmental cues can be relayed to specific cell populations in specific contexts. EGFR mediates pro-growth signaling in skin and in the ducts and outer surfaces of many organs.

Overactive RTK signaling can result in uncontrolled cell growth and survival that transforms normal cells into cancer cells. 

SHP2

SHP2 is a protein tyrosine phosphatase and a key positive regulator of the growth signals from the RTK growth factor receptors to the intracellular signaling pathways (including RAS/MAPK and PI3K) that promote growth and survival of normal cells and cancer cells. As such, SHP2 is a convergent node for upstream RTK signaling, such that activated SHP2 upregulates (“turns up”) the positive signals and downregulates (“turns down”) the negative signals in the signaling cascades. SHP2 also serves as a central node in relaying the growth and survival signals from RTKs such as EGFR to RAS/MAPK and other intracellular pathways. SHP2 is an attractive target because SHP2 inhibition ubiquitously blocks the growth signals from multiple RTKs, thereby preventing cancer