AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MOLECULAR-BASIS OF CARCINOGENESIS - CANCERS ARE THE PARADIGM OF SOMATIC GENETIC-DISEASES

Cancers are the most frequent and at the same time the most complicate d of somatic genetic diseases. Technical progress in the last fifteen years has enabled to analyse the acquired genetic abnormalities found in the vast majority of cancers. This molecular dissection of cancer h as led to an understanding of this disease that can basically be viewe d as a rupture of the balance between two class of genes, the oncogene s and the antioncogenes. This article defines the properties of these cancer genes and gives through a few examples an insight into the vari ous mechanisms of cancerogenesis.