Definition of "oncogene" []

• A gene that causes the transformation of normal cells into cancerous tumor cells, especially a viral gene that transforms a host cell into a tumor cell. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "* The term oncogene had been coined earlier by two NCI scientists, Robert Huebner and George Todaro, in 1969, although on scant evidence."
• "This phenomenon—like an addict feeding an addiction by ramping up the use of a drug—is called oncogene amplification."
• "It was termed an oncogene,* a gene capable of causing cancer."