In Vitro Carcinogenesis of Human Cells

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Systematic genome, mRNA and proteome approaches have detected many abnormalities in human cancer cells. However, it is difficult to determine which abnormality corresponds to which biological step of multi-step carcinogenesis. To clarify the causal relation ship between each abnormality and the resultant phenotypic change of the cell, cancer cells have been created by addition of defined genetic elements in vitro. So far, cervical cancer cells have been created with HPV16 E6/E7 genes in combination with some other oncogenes (Figure) (Oncogne, 26:2988-2996, 2007). This approach is being applied to other human cancers, such as ovarian, endometrial cancers (Br J Cancer 93:116-23, 2005; Oncogene 25:5673-82, 2006).