Oncogenes An Introduction to the Concept of Cancer Genes : With a Foreword by Joshua Lederberg

"Cancer viruses" have played a paradoxical role in the history of cancer research. Discovered in 1911 by Peyton Rous (1) at the Rockefeller Institute, they were largely ignored for several decades. Witness his eventual recognition for a Nobel Prize, but not until 1966-setting an all time record for latency, and testimony to one more advantage of longevity. In the 1950s, another Rockefeller Nobelist, Wendell Stanley, spearheaded a campaign to focus attention on viruses as etiological agents in cancer, his plat­ form having been the chemical characterization of the tobacco mosaic virus as a pure protein-correction, ribonucleoprotein-in 1935 (2). This doctrine was a centerpiece of the U.S. National Cancer Crusade of 1971: if human cancers were caused by viruses, the central task was to isolate them and prepare vaccines for immunization. At that point, many observers felt that perhaps too much attention was being devoted to cancer viruses. It was problematic whether viruses played an etiological role in more than a handful of human cancers. This topical, handy volume is the perfect guide for physicians or scientists not specializing in the field, but wishing to understand exciting recent developments in cellular and molecular biology relevant to oncogene research. The terminology used in discussing oncogenes and their products is straightforwardly defined, and the concepts crucial to an understanding of oncogene research are clearly presented. Key topics are explored, including assay techniques used in molecular biology; methods for assessing behavior of normal genes and oncogenes; DNA and RNA tumor viruses; viruses inducing immunodeficiency; cellular proto-oncogenes and their relation to retroviral oncogenes; and possible roles of gene amplification and mutation, chromosomal translocation, and cellular growth factors in human cancer. An up-to-date survey of research on the major oncogenes and a discussion of the possibilities for future diagnostic and therapeutic applications of oncogene research are provided. The presentation is enhanced through many original illustrations, an appendix on oncogenes and related genes, and an up-to-date bibliography Front Matter....Pages i-xv Introduction....Pages 1-3 Assays: Tools of the New Biology....Pages 4-37 Viruses and Oncogenes....Pages 38-66 Human T Cell Lymphotropic/Leukemia Viruses....Pages 67-77 Cellular Proto-oncogenes....Pages 78-97 Oncogenes and Human Cancers....Pages 98-132 src and Related Protein Kinases....Pages 133-155 Growth Factors and Receptors....Pages 156-181 ras Family of Oncogenes....Pages 182-197 myc and Other Nuclear Oncogenes....Pages 198-221 Additional Oncogenes....Pages 222-233 Transgenic Mice: Direct In Vivo Assay for Oncogenes....Pages 234-240 Potential Diagnostic Uses of Oncogenes....Pages 241-261 Potential Therapeutic Applications of Oncogenes....Pages 262-278 Oncogene Paradigm: Contribution to a Fundamental Understanding of Malignancy....Pages 279-280 Back Matter....Pages 281-300