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Genomic instability and cancer: scanning the Caenorhabditis elegans genome for tumor suppressors

Oncogene volume 23, pages 8366–8375 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Maintaining the stability of the genome is critical to normal cell growth and development. The early notion that cancer is the result of mutations in genes controlling cellular growth implied that gene or genome integrity is vital to the prevention of oncogenesis, and many genes and pathways that prevent genomic deterioration have been identified over the past decades. Recent progress in reverse genetic approaches, principally RNA interference, now allows the systematic analysis of gene function on a genomic scale in an animal system. Here, we discuss genomic approaches in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, aimed to identify genes and genetic networks that contribute to genome stability and are thus potentially involved in human carcinogenesis.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Joris Pothof, Rene Ketting and Robin May for discussions and comments on the manuscript, and Evelien Kruisselbrink and Marit Kosters for creating the transgenic animals used in Figure 2.

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  1. Hubrecht Laboratory, Center for Biomedical Genetics, Uppsalalaan 8, Utrecht, 3584 CT, The Netherlands

    Gijs van Haaften, Ronald HA Plasterk & Marcel Tijsterman

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Correspondence to Marcel Tijsterman.

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van Haaften, G., Plasterk, R. & Tijsterman, M. Genomic instability and cancer: scanning the Caenorhabditis elegans genome for tumor suppressors. Oncogene 23, 8366–8375 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1208011

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