Codex @codex  0

By Anna Bafico and Stuart A. Aaronson.

Chapter in Holland-Frei Cancer Medicine, 6th edition, published by BC Decker.

National Library of Medicine text: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK12423/

Stuart A. Aaronson studies the connection between growth factors, their receptors and cancer. His coauthored account of growth-factor families distinguishes extracellular signal molecules from the receptors that recognize them and transmit signals into a cell. The distinction explains how an alteration of a receptor can change proliferation even without an increase in its ligand.^[ref]

The scientific connection is between normal growth regulation and oncogene action: a signaling pathway that normally responds to tissue needs can contribute to inappropriate cell growth when its control is disrupted.