Abstract
Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the characterization and mode of action of oncogenes. The chapter presents several theories affiliated with carcinogenesis and basic techniques that are used for the study of oncogenes responsible for cancer. Some peculiarities of the carcinogenic process may be explained in terms of sequential activation of these oncogenes. The first insight into cellular oncogenes came from the study of a retrovirus, Rous sarcoma virus. This virus is studied intensively because of its unusual molecular biology involving reverse transcription and the high-efficiency integration of its genome into the cellular chromosome. The cancer process underlies complex biological phenomena. Cancer cells can modulate their antigenicity to evade the immune defense. They can also acquire an ability to break off from a primary tumor and seed secondary growths at distant sites. Such cancer phenotypes do not represent initial derangements in growth control but rather secondary adaptations that favor survival and clonal expansion. The presence of the oncogenes leads to the belief that even these complex biological phenomena can be traced back to an alteration of specific genes.
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