MOLECULAR MEDICINE - ONCOGENES

In the dozen years since the genetics of human cancer was first reviewed in these pages, we have achieved an understanding of the processes governing cell growth and differentiation that is quite sophisticated, but we still have far to go. For each cellular gene then implicated in the control of growth, at least a dozen more have joined the list. We have also added several concepts, entirely new and elemental, to our view of how cells enter the proliferative state and then leave it, either to undertake specialized tasks or to die. These advances have revolutionized the diagnosis and prognosis. © 1995, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.