Cell cycle alterations and lung cancer
B. Vincenzi, G. Schiavon, M. Silletta, D. Santini, G. Perrone, M. Di Marino, S. Angeletti, A. Baldi and G. Tonini
Medical Oncology, Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy, Laboratory of Medicine, Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy and Department of Biochemistry, Section of Pathology, Second University of Naples, Italy
Offprint requests to: Bruno Vincenzi, Medical Oncology, Campus Bio-Medico, Via Emilio Longoni 47, 0015 Rome, Italy. e-mail. b.vincenzi@unicampus.it
Summary. It is now widely accepted that human carcinogenesis is a multi-step process and phenotypic changes during cancer progression reflect the sequential accumulation of genetic alterations in cells. The recent progress of scientific research has notably increased knowledge about biological events involved in lung cancer pathogenesis and progression, thanks to the use of molecular biology and immunohistochemistry techniques. Lots of the genetic alteration found in small cells lung cancer (SCLC) and in not small cells lung cancer (NSCLC) concern the expression of cell cycle genes, actually recognized as onco-suppressor genes and the lack of equilibrium between oncogenes and oncosuppressor genes.
The present review of literature widely describes the cell cycle control, the lung cancer molecular pathogenesis, the catalog of known genetic alterations and the recent advances in global expression profiles in lung tumors, on the basis of the various hystological types too. Such data suggest the potential use of this knowledges in clinical practice both as prognostic factors and innovative therapeutic possibilities and they impose the necessity of new studies about cell cycle control and lung carcinogenesis. Histol Histopathol 21, 423-435 (2006)
Key words: Lung cancer, Cell cycle, Oncogenes, Oncosuppressors
DOI: 10.14670/HH-21.423