Oncogenes and anti-oncogenes in tumorigenesis.

Recent advances have led to the identification of cellular genes which are involved in the initiation and progression of tumorigenesis. The proto-oncogenes, which normally participate in the regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation, can become oncogenes through alterations in the regulation of their expression and/or their coding sequences. Their contribution to the tumorigenic phenotype is dominant. The anti-oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes or recessive oncogenes are normally implicated in a negative regulation of cellular proliferation. The loss of their activity contributes to tumorigenesis in a recessive manner. Genetic events activating proto-oncogenes or inactivating anti-oncogenes accumulate in the same cell during tumor progression and co-operate to determine the malignant invasive phenotype of advanced tumors.