Human small-cell lung cancers show amplification and expression of the N-myc gene

Journal Article · Sat Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1986 · Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.83.4.1092· OSTI ID:6155952

Nau, M M; Brooks, Jr, B J; Carney, D N; Gazdar, A F; Battey, J F; Sausville, E A; Minna, J D

The authors have found that 6 of 31 independently derived human small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell lines have 5- to 170-fold amplified N-myc gene sequences. The amplification is seen with probes from two separate exons of N-myc, which are homologous to either the second or the third exon of the c-myc gene. Amplified N-myc sequences were found in a tumor cell line started prior to chemotherapy, in SCLC tumor samples harvested directly from tumor metastases at autopsy, and from a resected primary lung cancer. Several N-myc-amplified tumor cell lines also exhibited N-myc hybridizing fragments not in the germ-line position. In one patient's tumor, an additional amplitifed N-myc DNA fragment was observed and this fragment was heterogeneously distributed in liver metastases. In contrast to SCLC with neuroendocrine properties, no non-small-cell lung cancer lines examined were found to have N-myc amplification. Fragments encoding two N-myc exons also detect increased amounts of a 3.1-kilobase N-myc mRNA in N-myc-amplified SCLC lines and in one cell line that does not show N-myc gene amplification. Both DNA and RNA hybridization experiments, using a TSP-labelled restriction probe, show that in any one SCLC cell line, only one myc-related gene is amplified and expressed. They conclude that N-myc amplification is both common and potentially significant in the tumorigenesis or tumor progression of SCLC.

• Research Organization: National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
• OSTI ID: 6155952
• Journal Information: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.; (United States), Journal Name: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.; (United States) Vol. 83:4; ISSN PNASA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550201* -- Biochemistry-- Tracer Techniques
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ANIMALS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BODY
CARCINOGENESIS
CARCINOMAS
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DISEASES
DNA SEQUENCING
GENE AMPLIFICATION
GENES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
LUNGS
MAMMALS
MAN
MESSENGER-RNA
NEOPLASMS
NUCLEI
NUCLEIC ACIDS
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
ONCOGENES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANS
PATHOGENESIS
PHOSPHORUS 32
PHOSPHORUS ISOTOPES
PRIMATES
RADIOISOTOPES
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
RNA
SCINTILLATION COUNTING
STRUCTURAL CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
VERTEBRATES