The Myc World Within Reach

Myc is a transcriptional coordinator of a wide range of intracellular and extracellular processes required for cell proliferation. These processes are tightly regulated in physiological conditions but hijacked when Myc is oncogenically activated. In fact, aberrantly elevated and/or deregulated activity of Myc is associated with the majority of human cancers. Several switchable mouse transgenic models have been developed and provided insights on the role of Myc in maintaining multiple aspects of the tumor phenotype, indicating that Myc inhibition would constitute an effective and broadly applicable anticancer therapeutic strategy. This issue of “The Myc gene: Methods and Protocols” provides a rich collection of techniques developed or routinely used by Myc investigators and serves as an invaluable resource for exploring the pleiotropic and still puzzling Myc biological functions.