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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1984 Jan;81(1):202–205. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.1.202

A molecular approach to leukemogenesis: mouse lymphomas contain an activated c-ras oncogene.

I Guerrero, P Calzada, A Mayer, A Pellicer
PMCID: PMC344639  PMID: 6582476

Abstract

By inducing mouse thymomas with carcinogens and gamma-radiation, we have studied the potential of tumor DNA to induce foci in rodent fibroblasts. A high percentage of the tumors used transformed the cultured cells, and the oncogenic phenotype segregated with extra copies of the c-ras gene family. There appears to be selectivity in the activated gene because so far all analyzed tumors induced by carcinogen have activated the N-ras gene, and those induced by radiation have activated the K-ras gene. The K-ras gene is the cellular counterpart of the viral ras oncogene in Kirsten murine sarcoma virus, but the N-ras has not yet been found in a retrovirus. The transformed cells have a marked increase in expression of the oncogene at the RNA and protein level. This model system might be a powerful tool in the study of leukemogenesis.

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Selected References

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