Most of these disparate research efforts were started through a desire to understand the mechanisms underlying cancer and to ultimately develop therapies. A significant acceleration in progress came in the 1970s with Nixon’s “war on cancer,” which brought a lot of new people and ideas into the cancer field. The advent of molecular cloning and DNA sequencing in the mid-1970s also played a critical role, allowing for the identification of oncogenes and their products. gof, gain-of-function; HZ4-FeSV, Hardy-Zuckerman 4 feline sarcoma virus; mT, middle T antigen; NEJM, New England Journal of Medicine; Ph chr, Philadelphia chromosome; PK, protein kinase; TK, tyrosine kinase; TKI, tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

Figure modified with permission from Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology (113).

Figure modified with permission from Cell (40). C, C terminus; N, N terminus; pY, phosphorylated tyrosine.