Oncogenes, cancer and imaging

At the dawn of the 21st century, nuclear oncology is undergoing a formidabl e and rapid mutagenesis. The progress in radiochemistry, radiopharmacy and, foremost, the advances in molecular oncology are the determinant mutagenic factors, Mutation, amplification, deletion or translocation of deoxyribonu cleic acid segments in proto-oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes also call ed anti-oncogenes account for the uncontrolled cell growth and proliferatio n resulting in cancer, The astonishing developments in peptide and nucleic acid chemistry have opened the door for the development of new, highly spec ific probes such as antisense, aptamer and peptidomimetic molecules to imag e the oncogenes and anti-oncogenes transcriptional (messenger ribonucleic a cid) and translational (protein) products involved in carcinogenesis, In th is article, I shall review the basic molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis and describe the molecular probes that are currently being developed.