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Biochemical correlation of oncogenesis with ontogenesis
Author(s) -
Wu Chung
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.2910110222
Subject(s) - carcinogenesis , isozyme , kidney , biology , reversion , liver cancer , cancer , enzyme , gene , cancer research , pathology , endocrinology , phenotype , genetics , medicine , biochemistry
Results on enzyme induction in rat liver and kidney tumors have shown a striking resemblance between the tumors and the perinatal liver and kidney, on the one hand, and a sharp contrast between the tumors and the adult liver and kidney, on the other. Studies on isozyme distribution give similar results. Abnormalities in the responsiveness of enzymes to metabolic modulations and in the induction‐repression of isozymes reflect aberrations in the regulatory genes of the tumors. Since the liver and kidney tumors have originated from the adult liver and kidney, respectively, but show biochemical properties akin to those of the perinatal liver and kidney, it seems that during oncogenesis certain regulatory genes must have been so altered that the cell reacquires the control mechanisms prevailing in an early period of the life of the organism. Hence, a reversion of some of the regulatory apparatus in the cancer cell to that in the perinatal stage of development has taken place. This reversion is considered an essential mechanism in carcinogenesis.