Molecular carcinogenesis

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, the systematic application of molecular methodologies has revealed a series of cellular events that contribute to cancer development. Although it is clear that each tumor type is unique in terms of pathogenesis and progression, carcinogenesis seems to follow some characteristic fundamental principles, including nonlethal genetic damage, clonal expansion of a single transformed cell, as well as alterations in proto-oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, all presented in a progressive, multistep fashion. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.