Cell Growth, Cancer and Oncogenes
Cancer Genes in the Human Genome
Distribution of Oncogenes, Cancer Genes and Tumor Suppressor Genes in the Human Genome
Cancer research has historically been a well-funded area in the United States and throughout the world. Starting with the "War On Cancer" in 1971 and through today, the identification of genes responsible for cancer has been a major thrust of human medical research. One result of this research is to detail the distribution of the oncogenes, cancer genes and tumor suppressor genes throughout the human genome. These genes are found on all but two (22 and X) human chromosomes. Some of these genes are cellular oncogenes, some are normal oncogenes and some a human homologs of known viral oncogenes. Many of these have been cloned, analyzed in detail and have had a function assigned to them.
What you see below are the 22 human somatic chromosomes and the two sex chromosomes aligned at the centromeres. Placed on this map are the locations of 98 human oncogenes, cancer genes or tumor suppressor genes. This data was collected from the Online Mendelian Inheritance of Man (OMIM). Furthermore this is a navigable map. All of the genes are linked back to the OMIM WWW site. In particular, each gene on the map is linked back to the page specific for that gene. When you navigate to the OMIM page for a particular gene (by clicking on the gene), you well find a large amount of information regarding the gene. This includes a detailed description of the gene and its genetics and links to abstracts of paper used in that description.
Copyright © 1997. Phillip McClean