proto-oncogenen.
/ˌprəʊtə(ʊ)ˈɒŋkə(ʊ)dʒiːn/, U.S. /ˌproʊdoʊˈɔnkoʊˌdʒin/; see also oncogene n. Molecular Biology.
Originally: a normal cellular gene whose nucleotide sequence is similar to that of a viral oncogene. Later also: a cellular gene believed to have the capacity to become oncogenic (e.g. by mutation or overactivity).
ΚΠ
1980 J. M. Bishop et al. in Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quantitative Biol. 44 921/2 We sought and found its homolog (proto-oncMCV) in vertebrate DNA.]
1981 M. L. Pall in Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 78 2465/2 The viral genes involved in transformation are called ‘oncogenes’ and the similar or identical sequences in the vertebrate genome are designated ‘proto-oncogenes’.
1989 B. Alberts et al. Molecular Biol. Cell (ed. 2) xxi. 1209 In both these types of cancer the translocation breakpoint, where part of one chromosome is joined to another, was found to coincide exactly with the location of a proto-oncogene already known from retroviral studies.
1994 Chicago Tribune 15 Apr. i. 8/5 Proto-oncogenes promote normal cell growth and division. A mutation or change in a proto-oncogene can permanently switch it on, turning it into an oncogene.
2003 Nation (Thailand) (Nexis) 23 June Two classes of genes that play major roles in control of cell growth are proto-oncogenes and tumour-suppressor genes.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1981