title: Comparison of cellular protooncogene activation and transformation-related activity of human melanocytes and metastatic melanoma.
abstract: Two cell lines (NH and HM1), established from patients with metastatic melanomas, were evaluated for the presence of activated cellular protooncogenes. Northern blot analysis demonstrated increased expression of the c-myc gene (from 9 to 14 times) in NH and HM1 cell lines by densitometric comparison with human melanocyte cell lines. Analysis of the expression of 13 additional cellular protooncogenes revealed either no detectable levels (c-fms, c-abl, v-src, c-erb A1, c-erb B, v-mos, TGF beta, and c-myb) or unaltered expression levels (cH-ras, N-ras, c-fos, and c-sis) in normal human melanocytes and metastatic melanomas. Elevated expression of the c-myc gene was also detected in two long-term cultured melanoma cell lines (RPMI 7951 and SKMEL-30). Analysis of c-myc expression by in situ hybridization in HM1 cells showed that expression was not localized to a sub-population of cycling cells and all cells were overexpressing c-myc mRNA. Differences in relative abundance of c-myc transcripts suggests a relationship with the ability of DNA from these cell lines to efficiently transform NIH 3T3 cells and form colonies on soft agar.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Dermatologic Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02115.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Husain
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: FitzGerald
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Wick
mesh_terms: D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D015870:Gene Expression; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D016259:Genes, myc / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008545:Melanoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016283:Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras) / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes / Q000235:genetics*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc; C501009:HRAS protein, human; D016283:Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras)