ABSTRACT
Molecular and gene biology Sarcoma has been a good model system in several laboratory settings and in human disease for increasing the understanding of molecular and gene biology of cancer. Indeed, the first evidence for the existence of oncogenes was obtained from a sarcoma model by Peyton-Rous in 1911.15 In contrast to the biology of carcinoma progression, sarcoma probably did not originate from preexisting benign lesions. It would therefore seem that acquisition of the overt malignant phenotype of mesenchymal precursors could be achieved by the accumulation of human mutations comparable to epithelial-derived carcinoma. Thus, molecules involved in several key regulatory programs, including RB and p53, are strongly associated with sarcoma. The well-understood natural history of sarcoma, together with experimental systems that are workable, have made sarcoma a model that is well suited to the study of tumorgenesis and tumor progression.
