Growth factors and oncogenes in human malignant glioma.

Normal cell replication is regulated by growth factors such as epidermal growth factor (EGF) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) that act through binding to specific surface receptors on target cells. Oncogenes may exert their transforming activity by encoding proteins that mimic the function of the normal regulatory factors along the mitogenic pathway, growth factors, their receptors or elements along the postreceptor signaling system. This may be exemplified by the human malignant glioma, in which the sis gene (encoding a growth factor homologous to PDGF) and the erb B gene (encoding a membrane protein homologous to the EGF receptor) have been implicated.