Mutations of the N- and K-ras genes occur in approximately 15-30% of acute myeloid leukaemia patients. The role of the oncogenic ras in leukaemogenesis remains unclear. Few studies have revealed that mutations in the ras oncogene family are more probably found in acute myeloid leukaemia patients with previous exposure to toxic agents. A case-case study was conducted in the areas of Florence and...

The ras oncogene plays an important role in the multistep progression to cancer by activation of signal transduction pathways that contribute to aberrant growth regulation. Although many of these effects are cell autonomous, the ras oncogene also regulates the expression of genes that alter host/tumor interactions. We now extend the mechanisms through which ras promotes tumor survival by demons...

The central role of the ras oncogenes in the pathogenesis of a wide variety of human malignancies is well established. Toward developing specific transcriptional inhibitors of the human Ha-ras oncogene, we have designed oligonucleotides to target a region of the Ha-ras promoter (-8 to -28) which contains two of the three Sp1 binding sites essential for transcriptional activity. Gel mobility ana...

UNLABELLED PURPOSE AND STUDY DESIGN: Recent studies have shown that beta-catenin translocated into the cell nucleus functions like an oncogene. Accumulating evidence suggests that activation of the beta-catenin oncogenic signaling cascade along with its twin, the K-ras cascade, may exert syngeneic or synergistic effects on tumor development and progression. In the study reported here, we analyz...

A modified in-gel DNA renaturation technique, which detects DNA sequences amplified >7-fold in human DNA, was used to analyze gene amplification in surgical specimens of primary and metastatic ovarian carcinomas. Amplified DNA sequences were detected in two of eight tumors. Hybridization of these samples with different oncogene probes revealed that both tumors contained an amplified Ki-ra.vgene...

A C3H/10T1/2 cell line containing an inducible metallothionein-ras hybrid oncogene was conditionally and reversibly transformed upon exposure to zinc ions. Interestingly, although the cell line was fully malignant when expressing only low levels of ras, complete morphological transformation required much higher levels.

Different mutant amino acids in the Ras proteins lead to distinct transforming capacities and different aggressiveness in human tumors. K-Ras Asp12 (K12D) is more prevalent in benign than in malignant human colorectal tumors, whereas K-Ras Val12 (K12V) associates with more advanced and metastatic carcinomas, higher recurrence and decreased survival. Here, we tested, in a nude mouse xenograft mo...

Despite all the blood-based biomarkers used to monitor prostate cancer patients, prostate cancer remains as the second common cause of cancer mortality in men in the United States. This is largely due to a lack of understanding of the molecular pathways that are responsible for the aggressive forms of prostate cancers, the castrate-resistant prostate cancer and the metastatic prostate cancer. C...

High-molecular-weight DNA isolated from eight fresh human skin cancers occurring on sun-exposed body sites were assayed for their ability to transform NIH 3T3 cells. A cotransfection protocol using pSV2-neo DNA, which confers resistance to the antibiotic G418, was used to select cells that had taken up the transfected DNA. About 2 weeks after transfection, G418-resistant colonies were pooled an...

Several mutations of cardiac beta-myosin heavy chain (beta-MHC) gene were reported in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Involvement of proto-oncogenes has been shown in the mechanism of experimental cardiac hypertrophy. This study sought to examine the effects of c-H-ras and c-myc expression in the steady-state myocardium on hypertrophic changes and to evaluate the possible inter...