[Oncogenes, anti-oncogenes and their alterations in human tumors].

This review summarizes the discovery of oncogenes which are the activated versions of normal cellular protooncogenes which serve essential functions in the control of cell proliferation and differentiation. Their activation disrupts the normal control mechanism which rests on the subtle balance between their effects and those of anti-oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. One may reasonably hope that defining a complete profile of alterations of both these types of essential genes in the tumor or in the clinically healthy individual will be invaluable to assess prognosis or genetic predisposition, respectively.