[The concept of suppressor genes in the molecular biology of central nervous system tumors].
Recently, major advances have resulted from the application of molecular biology to the understanding of central nervous system neoplasia. Schematically, two fundamental mechanisms of tumorigenesis have been described: the activation of oncogenes, and the inactivation of so called recessive "tumor suppressor" genes or "anti-oncogenes". The present report deals with the second mechanism. We discuss its basic concept and techniques, and illustrate it by specifc examples of recent work on brain tumors. The goal of this review is to familiarize Neurosurgeons with the terminology and techniques in this field. Molecular genetics suggest that cancer is a molecular disease which involves regulator genes. These play a major role in growth control, differentiation, and physiology. In the near future molecular biology may identify the structure of proteins coded by suppressor genes, possibly allowing a better tumor classification creating a new "genetic therapy", based on a better comprehension of the role of these genes in dividing and differentiating cells.
el-Azouzi
M
M
Hôpital Brigham and Women's and Children, Département de Chirurgie, Faculté de Médecine de Harvard, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
Black
P M
PM
D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000235:genetics; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D002490:Central Nervous System; D005134:Eye Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008579:Meningioma / Q000235:genetics; D009456:Neurofibromatosis 1 / Q000235:genetics; D009464:Neuroma, Acoustic / Q000235:genetics; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D012175:Retinoblastoma / Q000235:genetics; D013489:Suppression, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D006623:von Hippel-Lindau Disease / Q000235:genetics
Le concept de gène suppresseur dans la biologie moléculaire des tumeurs du système nerveux central.