Molecular Genetics Of Wilms’ Tumor

Abstract

Based on present rates, some type of cancer will affect three out of ten individuals in the United States in his or her lifetime (Amer. Cancer Soc., 1988). The impact of cancer on the health of the population has made an understanding of the etiology and biology of malignancy a primary research concern. The role of chromosome abnormalities in tumorigenesis was first proposed by Boveri in 1914. The subsequent observation of the clonal nature of most tumors supported the notion that genetic alterations were critical in carcinogenesis. Thus, the identification, isolation, and characterization of genes involved in carcinogenesis has become an important approach for understanding cancer etiology and biology. Advances in the past decade in molecular biology, cytogenetics, and somatic cell genetics have allowed the localization and cloning of many human disease loci. The isolation of genes involved in carcinogenesis is confounded by the heterogeneous nature of neoplasia and the absence of a single gene that is clearly involved. One approach to circumvent these complications is to study cancers in which only one or a few genes are hypothesized to have a major role in tumorigenesis. Wilms’ tumor (WT) is one such cancer.