Constitutive Expression of Multiple Cellular Oncogenes in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells

Cellular oncogenes are frequently activated or deregulated in human malignant tumors. We have analyzed the expression of cellular oncogenes in human leukemia by Northern blot experiments in a case of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In this case the cellular oncogenes N-myc, c-myb, c-fes and c-met were expressed at high levels. This is in contrast to normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells, where these genes could not be detected. c-src2-specific RNA was not seen in either AML or PBMC cells but readily appeared in CLL cells. This appears to represent further evidence that in leukemic cells multiple cellular oncogenes might be activated.