Tumor suppressor and oncogene nomenclature

[Step1Hash]

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Not sure if this is a legit association but is it safe to assume most tumor suppressor genes will be written in Upper-Case and most oncogenes written with Lower-Case? I just noticed this trend and was wondering if it was real.

 

[TupacalipseT96]

uhhh... I don't think so. Whether it is written uppercase or lowercase refers more to whether they happen to be referring to the gene (lower case) or the protein (upper case).

eg. ret gene produces RET protein

 

[Step1Hash]

uhhh... I don't think so. Whether it is written uppercase or lowercase refers more to whether they happen to be referring to the gene (lower case) or the protein (upper case).

eg. ret gene produces RET protein

in FA they have most all the tumor suppressor genes in capitals (BRCA1, NF1, DCC, etc.)... then again all of these are acronyms so maybe that is why.

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

I'm not a medical student, but I do conduct cancer research full-time. There's no rule regarding TSGs being written in upper-case vs. oncogenes being written in lower-case. In the primary literature, it just depends on the authors.

If I were in your place, I would just try to understand the protein's function in helping you determine whether it's a TSG or an oncogene rather than whether it's written in upper/lower case. Loss of function is associated with TSGs while gain of function (ex. activation, amplification, etc) are associated with oncogenes. If the question stem mentions something regarding that, it would be a pretty good giveaway regarding whether they're talking about a TSG or an oncogene.

Again, I'm not a med student, but I just wanted to point out that there's no rule regarding upper/lower case naming of TSGs and oncogenes. Hope this helps.

Edit: I've seen the trend that Tupacalipse mentions in the world of genetics, but cancer biologists don't really follow that unfortunately.

 

[Step1Hash]

I'm not a medical student, but I do conduct cancer research full-time. There's no rule regarding TSGs being written in upper-case vs. oncogenes being written in lower-case. In the primary literature, it just depends on the authors.

If I were in your place, I would just try to understand the protein's function in helping you determine whether it's a TSG or an oncogene rather than whether it's written in upper/lower case. Loss of function is associated with TSGs while gain of function (ex. activation, amplification, etc) are associated with oncogenes. If the question stem mentions something regarding that, it would be a pretty good giveaway regarding whether they're talking about a TSG or an oncogene.

Again, I'm not a med student, but I just wanted to point out that there's no rule regarding upper/lower case naming of TSGs and oncogenes. Hope this helps.

Edit: I've seen the trend that Tupacalipse mentions in the world of genetics, but cancer biologists don't really follow that unfortunately.

Thanks for the response. I understand how oncogenes and tumor suppressors work and I know all the one listen in FA but i'm just wondering about the ones that they don't have in the review books (such as PTCH or STK11) that might show up on step 1.

 

[DuxburyPembroke]

Thanks for the response. I understand how oncogenes and tumor suppressors work and I know all the one listen in FA but i'm just wondering about the ones that they don't have in the review books (such as PTCH or STK11) that might show up on step 1.

I can't remember anything on my Step 1 that I hadn't heard of... If they put something esoteric in the question, choosing the correct answer will probably not depend on knowing that one thing.