THE DISCOVERY OF ONCOGENES, GENES WHICH CAUSE CANCER, HAS HAD A MAJOR IMPACT ON RESEARCH AND POTENTIAL DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF CANCER.

THE DISCOVERY OF ONCOGENES, GENES WHICH CAUSE CANCER, HAS HAD A MAJOR IMPACT ON RESEARCH AND POTENTIAL DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF CANCER. SOME OF THE PRODUCTS OF ONCOGENES HAVE BEEN FOUND TO BE SIMILAR TO GROWTH FACTORS AND GROWTH FACTOR RECEPTORS WITH REGARD TO BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES AND AMINO ACID SEQUENCES. IN PHASE I OF THIS PROPOSAL, MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES WILL BE GENERATED TO PROTOTYPE ONCOGENE PRODUCTS (EPIDERMAL GROWTH FACTOR, EGF, PLATELET-DERIVED GROWTH FACTOR, PDGF) AS WELL AS OTHER AVAILABLE PROTEINS. THESE MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES WILL BE TESTED AGAINST A PANEL OF ANTIGENS TO CHARACTERIZE THEIR SPECIFICITIES AND CROSS REACTIVITIES. MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES AGAINST ONCOGENE PRODUCTS WILL BE EVENTUALLY USED AS PROBES FOR DETECTING RELATED PRODUCTS IN TUMORS, INHIBITORS FOR ELUCIDATING ACTIVITY OF THE ONCOGENE PRODUCTS BOTH IN VITRO AND IN VIVO, REAGENTS FOR DETECTING IMMUNOLOGICALLY RELATED NORMAL PROTEINS, AND FINALLY AS DIAGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC REAGENTS IN THE DETECTION AND TREATMENT OF CANCER.