Oncogene expression in neurofibromatosis.

To investigate the role of oncogenes in malignancies characteristic of neurofibromatosis, oncogene transcripts were quantitated in a neurofibrosarcoma and in control tissue from a patient with hereditary neurofibromatosis. Sis and N-ras were moderately hyperexpressed, raf, Blym, and erbA were slightly hyperexpressed, and abl, erbB, fes/fps, fgr, fos, mos, myb, myc, N-myc, rasHarvey, rasKirsten, ros, src, and yes were not hyperexpressed in the tumor compared to the control tissue. Although additional tumors will be assayed before conclusions are possible, it may be significant that the two oncogenes most hyperexpressed are prior suspects for a pathogenetic role in tumors of the nervous system.