In the last 20 years, it has become clear that developmental genes and their regulators,
noncoding RNAs including microRNAs and long-noncoding RNAs, within signaling
pathways play a critical role in the pathogenesis of cancer. Many of these pathways were
first identified in genetic screens in Drosophila and other lower organisms. Mammalian
orthologs were subsequently identified and genes within the pathways cloned and found to
regulate cell growth. Genes and pathways expressed during embryonic development …