Oncogenes in prostate cancer. An update.

Oncogenes have been implicated in the carcinogenic development of many diverse types of human malignancies. For some cancers, the expression of specific oncogenes has been shown to have diagnostic or prognostic value. By contrast currently, no oncogene has been correlated conclusively with the initiation or progression of prostate cancer. The ras oncogene has been investigated the most thoroughly for its involvement in prostate cancer, but ras does not appear to play a significant role in the development of this malignancy. Several years ago, limited studies hinted at the possibility of overexpression of the myc oncogene and aberrant expression of the sis oncogene in prostate cancer, but additional studies to clarify the involvement of these oncogenes have not been done. Oncogenic activity of growth factors or growth factor receptors in prostate cancer has been suggested but not amply demonstrated. Current dogma indicates that oncogenes exist in prostate cancer, but these will be identified only by more intensive investigation.