Activation of N-ras gene in bone marrow cells from a patient with acute myeloblastic leukaemia.
Human tumour cell lines of various histological origin contain genes that can transform NIH 3T3 cells in culture. Most frequently the gene is an activated K-ras gene, more rarely an activated H-ras gene, and sometimes the recently discovered N-ras. Other transforming genes, distinct from ras, have been found in B- and T-cell leukaemias. Since most of the transforming genes have been identified in cell lines, it is still unclear at what stage the genes become activated. We have therefore initiated a study to determine if the presence of a transforming gene correlates with the clinical course of a malignant disease. Here we demonstrate the presence of a transforming N-ras gene in bone marrow cells from a patient with acute myeloblastic leukaemia at the outbreak of the acute disease phase. Fibroblast DNA from the same patient was not transforming. In contrast to HL-60 cells, no alteration of the myc gene was detected.
D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000235:genetics*; D009857:Oncogenes; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D014162:Transfection