A matter of life and cell death.
In multicellular organisms, mutations in somatic cells affecting critical genes that regulate cell proliferation and survival cause fatal cancers. Repair of the damage is one obvious option, although the relative inconsequence of individual cells in metazoans means that it is often a "safer" strategy to ablate the offending cell. Not surprisingly, corruption of the machinery that senses or implements DNA damage greatly predisposes to cancer. Nonetheless, even when oncogenic mutations do occur, there exist potent mechanisms that limit the expansion of affected cells by suppressing their proliferation or triggering their suicide. Growing understanding of these innate mechanisms is suggesting novel therapeutic strategies for cancer.
Evan
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Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratories, 44, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PX, UK.
Littlewood
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D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D002455:Cell Division; D002470:Cell Survival; D004249:DNA Damage; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D015513:Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009857:Oncogenes; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism
D015513:Oncogene Proteins; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53