Br J Cancer  1990 Mar;61(3):365-8 

Low incidence of ras oncogene activation in human squamous cell carcinomas.

Rumsby G, Carter RL, Gusterson BA.

Department of Chemical Pathology, Royal Marsden Hospital, London, United
Kingdom.

Activation of the ras gene family by point mutation at codons 12, 13 and 61 has
been demonstrated in up to 20% of unselected series of human tumours. The
present study was carried out to assess the incidence of ras activation in 37
squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck, seven squamous cell carcinomas of
the skin and eight squamous carcinoma cell lines. Oligonucleotide probes and the
polymerase chain reaction were used on DNA extracted from achival paraffin
embedded material. Mutations in codon 12 of the Harvey ras gene was found in a
carcinoma of the larynx and a carcinoma of the lip, both of which had received
prior irradiation. A cell line (LICR-LON-HN8) established from the same
laryngeal cancer showed the same mutation. This study indicates that there is a
low incidence of ras mutation in human squamous cell carcinomas and that
activation of this family of genes is probably not a common factor in the
development of this group of tumours.

PMID: 2183872 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]