我们对癌病因的认识经历了漫长的时期。在19世纪末到20世纪初,德国生物学家Boveri首先提出染色体异常是致癌的关键。但在同期发现了Rous鸡肉瘤病毒,而后又发现了兔乳头状瘤病毒。接着在本世纪30到40年代发现了化学致癌物质,此后于50到60年代又获得肿瘤病毒。这些致病因素都是最常讨论的课题。几年前流行的病毒学说突然减少,再一次地认为环境因素是人类常见肿瘤的病因。然而,近几个月注意力又集中于肿瘤基因(对肿瘤起作用 Our understanding of the causes of cancer has gone through a long period of time. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the German biologist Boveri first proposed that chromosome abnormalities were the key to carcinogenesis. However, Rous chicken sarcoma virus was found in the same period, and then rabbit papillomavirus was discovered. Then chemical carcinogens were discovered in the 30th and 40th centuries, and tumor viruses were acquired in the 50s and 60s. These pathogenic factors are the most commonly discussed topics. A few years ago, the prevalence of virology was abruptly reduced. Once again, environmental factors are considered to be the cause of human common tumors. However, attention has focused on tumor genes in recent months.