Manitoba Institute of Child Health, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Pharmacol Ther. 2013 Jan;137(1):64-77. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2012.09.001. Epub 2012 Sep 13.
Cancer has been described as not one disease, but several, each with unique characteristics, symptoms, prognostics and outcomes. Underlying this complexity is a differential expression of genes, leading to a motley of phenotypes which orchestrate the hallmarks of cancer. The idea of treating, suppressing or even preventing all forms of cancer with a single form of therapy seems untenable given the complexities of these gene expression profiles. However, recent advances in the study of immediate early genes, a family of genes that are rapidly and transiently upregulated following an external stimulus such as growth factors, hormones or stress, and their ubiquitous involvement in regulating oncogenomic responses may lend itself to new and unique therapies. At the very least, understanding and targeting immediate early gene expression and function remains an untapped area in cancer prevention research, and could very well provide new resources in cancer treatment and new perspectives in directed cancer suppression. In this review, we will discuss the critical role immediate early genes play in cancer progression, and provide specific examples of immediate early gene function and inhibition.
癌症被描述为不是一种疾病，而是多种疾病，每种疾病都具有独特的特征、症状、预后和结果。这种复杂性的基础是基因的差异表达，导致了各种表型的协调，这些表型协调了癌症的标志性特征。鉴于这些基因表达谱的复杂性，用单一形式的治疗方法来治疗、抑制甚至预防所有形式的癌症的想法似乎是站不住脚的。然而，最近在即时早期基因研究方面的进展，即一组基因在受到生长因子、激素或应激等外部刺激后迅速而短暂地上调，以及它们在调节致癌基因组反应中的普遍参与，可能为新的和独特的治疗方法提供了可能性。至少，了解和靶向即时早期基因的表达和功能仍然是癌症预防研究中一个未开发的领域，并且很可能为癌症治疗提供新的资源，并为有针对性的癌症抑制提供新的视角。在这篇综述中，我们将讨论即时早期基因在癌症进展中所扮演的关键角色，并提供即时早期基因功能和抑制的具体实例。
