MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
June 1st, 2008 | by admin |Cancer is a genetic disease. Abnormalities in genes that control cellular proliferation lead to the unrestrained growth that characterizes the malignant cell. Thus, to gain the initiative in cancer detection and treatment, oncologists must begin to understand the molecular roots of the disease: genes, their messenger RNAs, and the proteins they produce.
In short, oncologists should be conversant with the tools of molecular biology. This chapter is a basic survey of molecular biology and is directed toward the clinician or trainee who wants a fundamental understanding of this discipline. It is “methods oriented” and will serve as a frame of reference for other chapters in this section. It describes the principles that underlie procedures used most commonly by molecular biologists and provides examples of clinically relevant situations that draw on particular techniques. It will become apparent that molecular biology already plays an important role in clinical cancer medicine, from the analysis of tumors for prognostic or pathogenetic information to the production of pharmacologic agents, such as colony stimulating factors (CSF), interleukins (ILs), and antiangiogenesis agents. We will begin with an overview of genes, gene expression, and gene cloning. Our discussion of techniques will follow the flow of genetic information as we explain procedures used to analyze gene
expression at the levels of DNA, RNA, and protein.
