title: Detection of high incidence of H-RAS oncogene point mutations in acute myelogenous leukemia.
abstract: We have been analyzing RAS p21 proteins and the DNA sequence of leukemic cells. We report here that these cells have high expression of H-RAS p21, which originates from point mutations of RAS oncogenes. The leukemic cells from six patients with acute myelogenous leukemia were separated from heparinized whole blood and bone marrow by a density gradient technique. The expression of RAS oncogenes was analyzed by a fluorescence-activated cell sorting with a panel of monoclonal antibodies. The high expression of DWP, which was reported to recognized activated RAS oncogene, was found in two patients and was associated with high levels of H-RAS expression. These facts prompted us to analyze the DNA sequence of RAS genes with an automated DNA sequencer. Unexpectedly, various kinds of H-RAS point mutations were found in all six cases, including two cases of hot-spot point mutation at codon 12, whereas K-RAS point mutation (no hot-spot point mutations) was found in six cases. The same H-RAS point mutations, at codons 10, 11, and 15, were found in all six cases. To our knowledge, there is no report on H-RAS point mutation in human leukemias. On the basis of these findings, we suggest that H-RAS point mutation together with p53 gene mutation may play an important role in leukemogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Hiroshima University, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Imamura
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kuramoto
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishihara
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimizu
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D011905:Genes, ras; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015689:Oncogene Protein p21(ras) / Q000378:metabolism; D010641:Phenotype; D017354:Point Mutation
chemical_list: D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D015689:Oncogene Protein p21(ras)