Abstract
Proto-oncogenes represent a group of eukaryotic genes whose activated forms are implicated in the development of cancer (for reviews, see refs 1–3). We have recently identified a human gene, N-myc, that is distantly related to the proto-oncogene c-myc4. N-myc is expressed at abnormally high levels consequent to amplification in numerous human neuroblastoma cell lines and metastatic neuroblastoma tumours5,6. In addition, enhanced expression of N-myc, often a result of amplification, has been found in retinoblastoma cell lines and tumours (refs 5,7 and M.S., unpublished data) and in cell lines derived from small-cell carcinomas of the lung8. Here, we show that enhanced expression of N-myc subsequent to co-transfections of an N-myc expression vector and the mutant c-Ha-ras-1(EJ) (from the human bladder carcinoma cell line EJ) is a factor in tumorigenic conversion of secondary rat embryo cells. The transformed cells elicit tumours in athymic mice and isogeneic rats. The ability of N-myc to contribute to neoplastic transformation of cultured mammalian cells raises the possibility that enhanced expression consequent to amplification of N-myc may be a factor in the aetiology of human neuroblastoma.
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Schwab, M., Varmus, H. & Bishop, J. Human N-myc gene contributes to neoplastic transformation of mammalian cells in culture. Nature 316, 160–162 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/316160a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/316160a0
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