Amplification of the N-myc Gene in Untreated Human Neuroblastomas

Abstract

Gene alteration and abnormal expression of cellular oncogenes has been implicated in the causation of various types of malignant disease. Gene amplification is thought to be a potent device for increasinq the amount of normal oncogene product and has been reported in a variety of human tumors. We have now examined the amplification of a c-myc related sequence called N-myc in several neuroblastoma tissues donated by patients of clinical stages IV and in an established tumor cell lines. Though N-myc amplification occurred as a common event in these patients, the degree of amplification was found to be quite different among them so that it ranged from several fold of amplification to more than 100 fold of amplification. Considering their clinical stages, it seemed that the degree of N-myc amplification has some correlation with the advanced stages of the disease.