13.5: Oncogenes
The control of cell division involves many different genes. Some of these genes act as signaling molecules to activate normal progression through the cell cycle. One of the pre-requisites for cancer occurs when one or more of these activators of cell division become mutated.
The mutation may involve a change in the coding sequence of the protein, so that it is more active than normal, or a change in the regulation of its expression, so that it is produced at higher levels than normal, or persists in the cell longer than normal. Genes that are a part of the normal regulation of cell division, but which after mutation contribute to cancer, are called proto-oncogenes . Once a proto-oncogene has been abnormally activated by mutation, it is called an oncogene. More than 100 genes have been defined as proto-oncogenes. These include genes at almost every step of the signaling pathways that normally induce cell to divide, including growth factors, receptors , signal transducers , and transcription factors.
ras is an example of a proto-oncogene. ras acts as a switch within signal transduction pathways, including the regulation of cell division. When a receptor protein receives a signal for cell division, the receptor activates ras , which in turn activates other signaling components, ultimately leading to activation of genes involved in cell division. Certain mutations of the ras sequence causes it to be in a permanently active form, which can lead to constitutive activation of the cell cycle. This mutation is dominant as are most oncogenes. An example of the role of ras in relaying a signal for cell division in the EGF pathway is shown in Figure \(\PageIndex{7}\).