title: PTEN: History of a Tumor Suppressor.
abstract: Starting from the discovery of "inhibitory chromosomes" by Theodor Boveri to the finding by Henry Harris that fusing a normal cell to a cancer cell reduced tumorigenic potential, the notion of tumor suppression was recognized well before any tumor-suppressor genes were discovered. Although not the first to be revealed, PTEN has been demonstrated to be one of the most frequently altered tumor suppressors in cancer. This introductory chapter provides a historical perspective on our current understanding of PTEN including some of the seminal discoveries in the tumor suppressor field, the events leading to PTEN's discovery, and an introduction to some of the most important researchers and their studies which have shed light on PTEN biology and function as we know it today.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Toronto, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Room 4211, Medical Sciences Building, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S 1A8. leonardo.salmena@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Salmena
mesh_terms: D002877:Chromosomes, Human; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000266:history*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000266:history / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase; C494929:PTEN protein, human
keywords: Cancer; PTEN; Tumor suppressor