Amplification and expression of different myc-family genes in a tumor specimen and 3 cell lines derived from one small-cell lung cancer patient during longitudinal follow-up

✍ Scribed by Klaas Kok; Jan Osinga; Dick C. Schotanus; Henk H. Berendsen; Lou F. M. H. De Leu; Charles H. C. M. Buys

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 670 KB
• Volume: 44
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.2910440114

✦ Synopsis

In a small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) tumor specimen as well as in 3 cell lines derived from SCLC biopsies obtained from the same patient at successive times during the clinical course, either the N-myc gene or the c-myc gene appeared to be amplified and expressed. The initial tumor specimen, a lymph-node metastasis, was amplified for N-myc, as was the cell line GLC-14 derived from this metastasis. The cell lines GLC-16 and GLC-19, derived from recurrent primary tumor biopsies after a complete remission, were amplified for cmyc. This finding implies independent amplification events and supports the idea that the amplification of myc genes is probably a secondary event correlated with tumor progression. Although all 3 cell lines could be classified as classic SCLC cell lines according to their histological characteristics, GLC-16 and GLC-I9 clearly possess, in their c-myc amplification and derivation from therapy-resistant tumor cells, features of variant SCLC lines. This may question the significance of the classidvariant classification.