Wagner S N, Müller R, Boehm J, Pütz B, Wünsch P H, Höfler H
Institute of Pathology, GSF-Forschungszentrum für Umwelt und Gesundheit, Neuherberg-Munich, Germany.
Virchows Arch B Cell Pathol Incl Mol Pathol. 1993;63(5):325-9. doi: 10.1007/BF02899279.
The most prominent abnormality of ras proto-oncogenes in human lung tumours has involved point mutations at codon 12 of the Ki-ras gene. We have analysed 35 tumour samples of neuroendocrine lung neoplasms (ten carcinoid tumours, ten well-differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas, and 15 intermediate/small cell neuroendocrine carcinomas) for a point mutation at this site. For this purpose, formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue sections were microdissected to remove non-tumours areas. DNA in the remaining tumour tissue was amplified in vitro by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and double-stranded PCR products were subjected to sequence analysis. Neither point mutations at codon 12 nor additional structural alterations at codons 1-32 were detected in Ki-ras gene. Our results suggest that point mutations at codon 12 of the Ki-ras gene do not seem to be involved in the pathogenesis of pulmonary neuroendocrine neoplasms.
