IDENTIFICATION OF CANCER GENES BY IN-VIVO FUSION OF HUMAN CANCER CELLS AND ANIMAL CELLS

摘要

The present invention concerns compositions and methods for detecting and identifying novel cancer genes. The technique involves in vivo fusion of human cancer cells and animal cells, preferably hamster stromal cells, to form hybrid human cancer-animal cells, followed by identification of genes that are overexpressed in the hybrid cells compared to normal or transformed animal cells. The novel oncogenes or their protein products may be utilized for detection and/or diagnosis of human cancer or for development of new cancer therapies targeted against the novel oncogenes or their expressed proteins.