The authors analyzed MIN in de novo acute leukemia and its association with expression of the human MSH3 (hMSH3) gene and point mutations of the N-ras gene.
A trend was found between the overexpression of the N-ras gene and the acute leukemias: all 10 acute leukemias exhibited overexpression of the N-ras gene, while only two of the CML cases, both in blastic crisis, showed elevated levels of the N-ras gene.
Our observations indicate that in vivo selection assays detect transforming genes including ras oncogenes at high frequency, and that activated N-ras genes are frequently detected in human acute leukemias.