In the last few years the study of oncogenes has considerably advanced our understanding of the molecular mechanisms leading to cancer. Oncogenes may be defined as genes in which alterations to expression or coding potential are essential steps in neoplastic transformation. Much of the impetus for the study of oncogenes is derived from the farsightedness of those virologists who studied transforming viruses and argued that the ways in which these viruses caused transformation would mimic mechanisms in tumours where there was no viral involvement. Since the field of oncogene research has been extensively reviewed (see, e.g. Bishop, 1985 ; Varmus, 1984; Marshall, 1985), it is not the purpose of this review to catalogue the accumulated evidence for the role of oncogenes in tumorigenesis. I wish to discuss the viewpoint that oncogenes encode proteins that are intimately concerned in the control of cell proliferation via growth factors, their receptors,...

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