Translational control: the cancer connection

There is now a growing body of evidence which suggests links between the re gulation of protein synthesis and the disruption of cell behaviour that typ ifies cancer. This directed issue of the International Journal of Biochemis try and Cell Biology presents several review articles of relevance to this held. The topics covered include the significance of the regulation and ove rexpression of polypeptide chain initiation factors for cell transformation and malignancy, the role of mRNA structure in the control of synthesis of key growth regulatory proteins, the actions of the eIF2 alpha-specific prot ein kinase PKR in the control of cell growth and apoptosis, and the involve ment of the elongation factor eEF1 in oncogenesis. The purpose of this arti cle is to give an overview of the field and to indicate where we may expect developments to occur in the next few years. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.