In scientific writings, we must strive for clarity, accuracy, objectivity, and consistency. Hence the purpose of a genetic nomenclature committee that assigns a unique name and symbol for each human gene, ensuring their unequivocal identification in the scientific literature. Despite these efforts, we still see publications using outdated symbols for genes, and authors that fail to distinguish between gene and protein in their writings. Since such mistakes can severely hinder the readers' comprehension, I present a review of gene nomenclature guidelines, and of the various Internet tools for retrieving approved gene names and symbols, highlighting those that are important in the study of cancer.
Nomenclature; translocation
