The intensive study of molecular events leading to cellular transformation in tissue culture or in intact organisms culminated in the identification of 100 or more genes that can be defined as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. Functionally, these genes can be divided into several classes, each involved in a different step in transmission of signals from the exterior of the cell to the nucleus. The first oncogenes to be biochemically character ized included membrane receptors for growth factors, growth factors themselves, protein kinases or small GTP binding proteins involved in signal transduction. Later, the development of techniques to study pro teins-DNA interaction in eucaryotes and the isolation and characterization of many promoter and enhancer sequences revealed that a number of the classical retroviral oncogenes were indeed transcription factors. In paral lel, the rapid progress in the identification and cloning of chromosomal translocations in human and animal malignancies and the increased reper toire of known transcription factors families revealed that many other transcription factors can playa critical role in cancer. A more recent devel opment concerns tumor suppressor genes. The realization that human tumors are frequently associated with a loss of function of one or several genes is also one of the landmarks of cancer research in the last 15 years. Again, as we will see below, some of these genes encode transcription factors. It is becoming increasingly difficult to cover in a single monograph all oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes.

The intensive study of molecular events leading to cellular transformation in tissue culture or in intact organisms culminated in the identification of 100 or more genes that can be defined as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. Functionally, these genes can be divided into several classes, each involved in a different step in transmission of signals from the exterior of the cell to the nucleus. The first oncogenes to be biochemically character ized included membrane receptors for growth factors, growth factors themselves, protein kinases or small GTP binding proteins involved in signal transduction. Later, the development of techniques to study pro teins-DNA interaction in eucaryotes and the isolation and characterization of many promoter and enhancer sequences revealed that a number of the classical retroviral oncogenes were indeed transcription factors. In paral lel, the rapid progress in the identification and cloning of chromosomal translocations in human and animal malignancies and the increased reper toire of known transcription factors families revealed that many other transcription factors can playa critical role in cancer. A more recent devel opment concerns tumor suppressor genes. The realization that human tumors are frequently associated with a loss of function of one or several genes is also one of the landmarks of cancer research in the last 15 years. Again, as we will see below, some of these genes encode transcription factors. It is becoming increasingly difficult to cover in a single monograph all oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes."

This work which was published to mark the tenth anniversary of the collaboration between the Institut Pasteur and the Riken Institute in Japan, covers a number of research fields in which both laboratories are active: precocious development in mice and the effect on them of disactivating genes, nuclear oncogenes and their role in controlling cell division, and the molecular bases of bacterial and viral infections. There are also chapters dealing with specific aspects of immune recognition, the genetics of sexual determination in humans and a new technique for studying the human genome. This book is intended for researchers and physicians in the fields of immunology, genetics, bacteriology/virology, cancerology, developmental biology, cellular biology and neurobiology.