Genes and Tumorigenesis

An elaborate circuitry of biochemical reactions mediates the control of cellular phenotype. We have gained access to this circuitry through the study of genes first recognized in cancer cells, but now known to specify components of the regulatory circuitry in normal cells. The genes are of two sorts: proto-oncogenes, which display dominant damage in cancer cells; and tumor suppressor genes, which typically display recessive damage. We pursue the function and biological significance of these genes with a combination of tools taken from biochemistry, cell biology, and genetics. Several of the genes we study specify protein-tyrosine kinases that function in the cytoplasm and at the plasma membrane. Others encode nuclear proteins that participate in the control of transcription. We seek the biochemical mechanisms by which these genes act, their physiological role in the normal organism, and their role in the genesis of human cancer. In recent years, the laboratory has focused on the development and application of mouse models that replicate both the phenotype and genotype of human cancers. That work has produced new insights into the genomic basis of tumorigenesis, uncovered biomarkers useful in the management of human cancer, authenticated new approaches to the treatment of malignancy, and provided models that will be useful in the preclinical study of new therapies.

Here is how to contact us:

J. M. Bishop, MD
Professor and Director,
The G.W. Hooper Foundation
Box 0552, HSW 1542
University of California
513 Parnassus Ave.,
San Francisco, CA 94143-0552
Tel.: (415) 476-3211
Fax: (415) 476-6185