Oncogene

Oncogene designates a gene that when activated or overexpressed promotes cancer development through driving uncontrolled cell proliferation, inhibiting apoptosis, promoting invasion and metastasis, stimulating angiogenesis, or evading immune surveillance. These cancer-promoting genes typically derive from normal cellular proto-oncogenes, becoming oncogenic through gain-of-function mutations, gene amplification, chromosomal translocations, or viral insertion.

The biopharmaceutical industry extensively targets oncogenes for cancer therapy, with successful drugs including imatinib inhibiting BCR-ABL fusion protein in chronic myeloid leukaemia, trastuzumab blocking HER2 in amplified breast cancers, and EGFR inhibitors treating non-small cell lung cancer. Major oncogene families include receptor tyrosine kinases such as EGFR and HER2, RAS family proteins including KRAS and NRAS, and transcription factors including MYC. Oncogene addiction describes cancer dependence on specific oncogenic drivers for survival, creating therapeutic vulnerability. Drug development employs small molecule kinase inhibitors, monoclonal antibodies, antisense oligonucleotides, and PROTACs inducing oncogene degradation. As cancer genomics reveals oncogenic drivers across tumour types and resistance mechanisms are better understood, oncogene-targeted therapeutics continue expanding precision oncology.