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Leukaemogenic progression: The importance of differentiation and associated genetic events
Author(s) -
HO ELLEN SP,
O'NEILL HELEN C
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
immunology and cell biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0818-9641
DOI - 10.1038/icb.1995.32
Subject(s) - biology , malignancy , cancer , cellular differentiation , cancer cell , cancer research , cell , gene , genetics
Summary A feature common to many blood cell cancers is the uncoupling of normal proliferative and differentiative events, both of which are intimately linked in the cell's developmental programme. In some cancers, further differentiative events have been associated with oncogenic progression and, in other cancers, terminal differentiation of cells has been shown to result in reversal of malignancy and death of the cancer cell. Clearly the development of cancer is not the result of a single oncogenic event, but rather a myriad of events which appear to proceed in concert in a step‐wise fashion and which are likely to be influenced by the cellular environment. Here we review some of the major genetic changes which occur in leukaemogenesis and discuss the possible role of differentiative events in the development of leukaemia.