Growth factors and oncogenes

Abstract

The regulation of the production of normal cells of the skin, blood and intestine has attracted considerable interest since the very earliest days of tissue culture1,2. The proliferation of normal cells has long been known to depend on specific proteins called growth factors. However, the experimental systems were so complex and poorly understood, that only the persistence of a few biochemists kept the rather complex field of growth factor chemistry moving forward3. Now, after the discovery of the retroviral oncogenes4 and their cellular equivalents, it is our knowledge of growth factors6-12 their receptors9 and their mode of action 11,12, which is paving the way for understanding the functi..