title: [Abnormalities of the retinoblastoma susceptibility gene (RB) in hematologic malignancies].
abstract: The retinoblastoma susceptibility gene (RB) is expressed in all lineages of normal hematopoietic cells and plays an important role in controlling cell cycle progression at G1/S. Abnormalities of the RB gene may, therefore, predispose to the development of hematologic malignancies. DNA rearrangement was reported to be present in 1.5-12.1% of cases with primary leukemias and the absence of the RB gene product was also observed in 6.3-23.2%. The abnormalities were frequently observed in blastic crisis of CML, especially of the megakaryoblastic phenotype, AML with monocytic differentiation and Ph1-positive leukemias. These results indicate that abnormalities of RB are relatively common in hematologic malignancies and loss of RB function may contribute to the altered growth of these cells.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hemopoiesis, Jichi Medical School.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Furukawa
mesh_terms: D001752:Blast Crisis; D002453:Cell Cycle; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D016161:Genes, Retinoblastoma / Q000235:genetics*; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor / Q000502:physiology*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D010766:Phosphorylation