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Ha-ras hypervariable alleles in myelodysplasia

Nature volume 321, pages 84–85 (1986)Cite this article

Abstract

The somatic mutation of one of the ras oncogenes is now considered to be a critical step in the pathogenesis of many tumours1,2. Circumstantial evidence also suggests that some individuals may be genetically predisposed to malignancy3 and a general method used to analyse such disease susceptibility is the study of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) at particular loci4,5. The Harvey ras (Ha-ras) locus includes a hypervariable region (HVR) which consists of a series of 28-base-pair (bp) tandem repeats 3′ to the gene6. This arrangement gives rise to alleles of a wide range of sizes, making such genetic analysis possible. A previous study reported that white blood cell DNA from cancer patients frequently showed allelic restriction fragments at the Ha-ras locus which were found only rarely in normal unaffected individuals, and it was concluded that the inheritance of such unusual alleles may be linked to a susceptibility to cancer7. As this conclusion has major implications we sought to investigate whether this association could be confirmed in patients with myelodysplasia, a common haematological malignancy reported to have the highest frequency of rare alleles7. The Ha-ras alleles were characterized in normal healthy individuals and compared with those found in patients with myelodysplasia (MDS). Our results, reported here, show that the distribution of Ha-ras alleles in myelodysplastic patients is not significantly different from that in normal individuals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK

    S. L. Thein & J. Flint

  2. Department of Haematology, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK

    J. S. Wainscoat

  3. Department of Haematology, Royal Victorian Hospital, Boscombe, Bournemouth, BH1 4JG, UK

    D. G. Oscier

Authors
  1. S. L. Thein
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  2. D. G. Oscier
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  3. J. Flint
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  4. J. S. Wainscoat
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Thein, S., Oscier, D., Flint, J. et al. Ha-ras hypervariable alleles in myelodysplasia. Nature 321, 84–85 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/321084a0

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