How is growth controlled in normal cells? How are the growth control mechanisms perturbed in cancer cells? This book provides an up-to-date description of research aimed at resolving these questions. It is organized into four sections, each containing a series of short reviews written by experts in the field. The general headings are: growth factors, receptors, and related oncogenes: transduction of mitogenic signals and ras oncogenes; nuclear oncogenes and regulation of gene expression; and multiple steps involved in malignant transformation. The articles emphasize concepts rather than detailed facts and are intended not only for specialists in the field but also for interested readers, such as physicians and advanced students, who wish to stay abreast of developments in one of the most exciting fields in current biomedical research.

I Growth Factors and Proto-Oncogenes in Development and Differentiation.- The Expression of Growth Factors and Growth Factor Receptors During Mouse Embryogenesis.- A Role for Proto-Oncogenes in Differentiation?.- Tissue-Specific Expression and Possible Functions of pp60c-src.- II Growth Factors, Receptors, and Related Oncogenes.- The Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factors.- Role of PDGF-Like Growth Factors in Autocrine Stimulation of Growth of Normal and Transformed Cells.- Transforming Growth Factor-?.- Transforming Growth Factor-?.- The Physiology of Epidermal Growth Factor.- Structural Relationships Between Growth Factor Precursors and Cell Surface Receptors.- Regulation of Cell Growth by the EGF Receptor.- Mutational Analysis of v-erbB Oncogene Function.- The c-fms Proto-Oncogene and the CSF-1 Receptor.- Activation of the c-src Gene.- Normal and Transforming N-Terminal Variants of c-abl.- Transformation by the v-abl Oncogene.- mos.- Structure and Function of the Human Interleukin-2 Receptor.- III Signal Transduction and ras Oncogenes.- Phosphorylation in Signal Transmission and Transformation.- Inositol Lipids and Cell Proliferation.- Protein Kinase C.- The Relevance of Protein Kinase C Activation, Glucose Transport, and ATP Generation in the Response of Haemopoietic Cells to Growth Factors.- Cytoplasmic pH and Free Ca2+ in the Action of Growth Factors.- Epidermal Growth-Factor Mediation of S6 Phosphorylation During the Mitogenic Response: A Novel S6 Kinase.- Role of G Proteins in Transmembrane Signaling: Possible Functional Homology with the ras Proteins.- The ras Gene Family.- RAS Genes and Growth Control in the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.- IV Gene Expression and Nuclear Oncogenes.- Regulation of Human Globin Gene Expression.- Regulation of GeneExpression by Steroid Hormones.- Enhancers as Control Elements for Tissue-Specific Transcription.- The Effect of DNA Methylation on DNA-Protein Interactions and on the Regulation of Gene Expression.- Trans-Acting Elements Encoded in Immediate Early Genes of DNA Tumor Viruses.- Transactivator Genes of HTLV-I, II, and III.- Involvement of Proto-Oncogenes in Growth Control: The Induction of c-fos and c-myc by Growth Factors.- Oncogenes and Interferons: Genetic Targets for Animal Cell Growth Factors.- Regulation of c-myc Expression in Normal and Transformed Mammalian Cells.- Properties of the myc and myb Gene Products.- The fos Oncogene and Transformation.- p53: Molecular Properties and Biological Activities.- V Malignant Transformation as a Multistep Process.- Oncogene Cooperativity in Stepwise Transformation of Rodent Embryo Fibroblasts by Polyoma Virus.- Role of the Middle T: pp60c-src Complex in Cellular Transformation by Polyoma Virus.- Oncogenes Cooperate, but How?.- Individual and Combined Effects of Viral Oncogenes in Hematopoietic Cells.- Multiple Factors Involved in B-Cell Tumorigenesis.- Molecular Events Associated with Tumor Initiation, Promotion, and Progression in Mouse Skin.- Amplification of Proto-Oncogenes and Tumor Progression.- Suppression of the Neoplastic Phenotype.- VI Oncogenesis in Transgenic Mice.- Oncogenesis in Transgenic Mice.