LNK-754 inhibits the activity of a protein called farnesyl-transferase (FT). This class of molecules are called FTIs (or farnesyl-transferase inhibitors). As with mTOR inhibitors, many companies developed them to treat cancers, where they were unsuccessful. The mechanism by which FTIs work is through inhibition of this enzyme, which adds a fatty acid molecule to proteins (such as the oncogene, or cancer-generating, ras). Many proteins can exist in a cell in various locations, and the addition of a farnesyl group targets proteins to the plasma membrane. When ras gets to the plasma membrane, it becomes activated, and leads to tumour formation if this process is not stopped. It was thought that by inhibiting FT, ras will not be activated, therefore preventing cancer growth. The problem was that ras can also be modified by other mechanisms, and thus FTIs were not sufficient to inhibit malignant growth induced by ras signaling.