title: Amplification of the N-myc oncogene in an adenocarcinoma of the lung.
abstract: c-myc oncogene is the most extensively studied member of the myc gene family, which now consists of three characterized members, namely the c-myc, N-myc, and L-myc genes. Deregulation owing to amplification and/or rearrangements of the c-myc gene have been described in a variety of human malignancies. Several neuroblastomas have amplifications of the N-myc genes. The c-myc, N-myc, or L-myc oncogenes are also found amplified in different cell lines from small cell carcinomas of the lung. In this study, we have examined the c-myc, N-myc, and c-erbB oncogenes in 34 clinical and autopsy tumor specimens representing various histopathological types of human lung cancer, including nine small cell lung cancers. A 30-fold amplification of the N-myc gene was found in a tumor histopathologically and histochemically verified as a typical adenocarcinoma. No amplifications of the c-myc or c-erbB oncogenes were seen in any of the tumors. In the DNA of one small cell carcinoma, an extra c-myc and N-myc cross-hybridizing restriction fragment was observed, possibly owing to an amplification of a yet uncharacterized myc-related gene.
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics*; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000235:genetics; D002460:Cell Line; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D005784:Gene Amplification; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D009857:Oncogenes
chemical_list: D004273:DNA, Neoplasm