A History of Cancer Research: Tyrosine Kinases

Proteins containing tyrosine kinase activity play critical roles in cancer signaling. Intracellular SRC-family kinases relay growth signals from numerous cell surface receptors and can be constitutively activated by oncogenic mutations, as can transmembrane growth factor receptors such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) that signal via their tyrosine kinase activity. In this excerpt from his forthcoming book on the history of cancer research, Joe Lipsick looks back at the discovery of tyrosine kinases and the demonstration that the V-SRC protein encoded by Rous sarcoma virus was a tyrosine kinase.