Site-specific activation was apparent in the cell signaling mitogen-activated protein kinase oncogenes (KRAS in lung, HRAS in oral cancers and BRAF in esophageal and colorectal cancers).
We have investigated the association of RFLP at the H-ras-1 locus and susceptibility to oral cancer by Southern hybridization analysis in 77 primary oral tumors and 99 healthy donors.
Thus, our data showing loss of H-ras-1 alleles and VTR rearrangement, with relatively high incidence (9/23; 39%) in the oral cancer patients at various stages of the disease, implies H-ras-1 involvement as an early event in the process of oral carcinogenesis.