Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 6 hours ago

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In this video we look at the roles of proto-oncogenes and oncogenes in cancer. First we explore what is meant by a proto-oncogene, looking at the example of a growth factor receptor. We then look at how a proto-oncogene can mutate into an oncogene and how this can lead to the development of a tumour.

Image credits:

Malignant melanoma liver
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Malignant_Melanoma,_Liver_FNA,_Direct_Smear,_Pap_Stain_(8191269180).jpg
Ed Uthman from Houston, TX, USA, CC BY 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Malignant melanoma scalp
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Malignant_Melanoma_Mid_Frontal_Scalp.jpg
Dermanonymous, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Fibroma
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fibroma.jpg
Klaus D. Peter, Wiehl, Germany, CC BY 3.0 DE creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/de/deed.en, via Wikimedia Commons

4 day human embryo
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%AD%D0%BC%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD_%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B0_2-%D0%B5_%D1%81%D1%83%D1%82%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%8F.jpg
NinaSes, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons