Loss of function of the p53 tumor suppressor gene by point mutation is the most commonly detected genetic alteration in human cancer. There is growing evidence that amplification and overexpression of the MDM2 gene are alternative mechanisms that also lead to functional inactivation of p53. While p53 mutations and MDM2 amplification have been reported to occur in rhabdomyosarcoma and osteogenic...

Gene amplification is a tumor-specific event during malignant transformation. Recent studies have proposed a lineage-dependency (addiction) model of human cancer whereby amplification of certain lineage transcription factors predisposes a survival mechanism in tumor cells. These tumor cells are derived from tissues where the lineage factors play essential developmental and maintenance roles. He...

Molecular targeted therapy is expected to be a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC); however, the gene amplification status of molecular targeted genes in ESCC remains largely unclear. The gene amplification of EGFR, HER2, FGFR2 and MET was examined using a real-time PCR-based copy number assay of 245 ESCC surgical specimens of formalin-f...

Gene amplification is characteristic of tumors and continuous cell lines but not of primary, normal, diploid, senescing cells. However, the rat cell line REF52, which resembles primary cells in requiring expression of cooperating oncogenes for transformation, is unusual among cell lines as it is not permissive for amplification. REF52 cells did not form colonies in N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartat...

Chromosomal aberrations and dihydrofolate reductase gene amplification are observed in L5178Y mouse lymphoma cells after treatment with hydroxyurea. The types of aberrations include polyploidy, endoreduplication, chromosome fragmentation, and the presence of extrachromosomal DNA. Hydroxyurea-treated cells analyzed by cell sorting showed a subpopulation of cells with increased DNA and increased ...

Gene amplification is one of the most frequent manifestations of genomic instability in human tumors and plays an important role in tumor progression and acquisition of drug resistance. To better understand the factors involved in acquired resistance to cytotoxic drugs via gene amplification, we have analyzed the structure and dynamics of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene amplification in HT2...