ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the discovery of oncogenes, or genes that cause cancer. The experiments by Peyton Rous in chickens over a century ago demonstrated that viruses can cause cancer, and the transforming virus he worked with was named Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) in his honor. In this chapter there is emphasis on the experimental research of Harry Rubin and Howard Temin, who developed assays to measure oncogenic activity in cells and during the revolution in molecular biology in the 1970s, the specific viral gene that is required for RSV-induced oncogenesis, src, was discovered. In addition to the monumental discovery that oncogenic RNA viruses use DNA as an intermediary before generating mRNA and their viral proteins, this chapter also addresses the groundbreaking findings by Dominique Stehelin, Harold Varmus, J. Michael Bishop, and Peter Vogt, demonstrating that oncogenes are essentially viral genes that are derived from host cells and have undergone mutations in the virus to render them oncogenic. The significance that host cells contain proto-oncogenes is discussed. Additional oncogenes are also discussed, including H-ras (Harvey Ras) and K-ras (Kirsten Ras) murine leukemia viruses, respectively. Finally, this chapter addresses the development of inhibitors and drugs that were designed from the basic biomedical knowledge that has been generated.
