Growth regulation by oncogenes - new insights from model organisms

A great deal of work has focused on how oncogenes regulate the cell cycle d uring normal development and in cancer, yet their roles in regulating cell growth have been largely unexplored. Recent work in several model organisms has demonstrated that homologs of several oncogenes regulate cell growth a nd has suggested that some of the effects of oncogenes on the cell cycle ma y be a result of growth promotion. These studies have also suggested how gr owth and cell-cycle progression may be coupled.