Signalling networks that cause cancer

Cancer is caused by the stepwise accumulation of mutations that affect growth control, differentiation and survival. The view that mutations affect discrete signalling pathways, each contributing to a specific aspect of the full malignant phenotype, has proved to be too simplistic. We now know that oncogenes and tumour suppressors depend on one another for their selective advantage, and that they affect multiple pathways that intersect and overlap. The interactive nature of each genetic change has important implications for cancer therapy and for the stepwise model of carcinogenesis.