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RAS oncogene product expression in normal and malignant oral mucosa
Author(s) -
Freer Elissa,
Savage N. W.,
Seymour G. J.,
Dunn T. L.,
Lavin M. F.,
Gardiner R. A.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
australian dental journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.701
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1834-7819
pISSN - 0045-0421
DOI - 10.1111/j.1834-7819.1990.tb05880.x
Subject(s) - carcinogenesis , oral mucosa , gene product , pathology , oncogene , immunohistochemistry , biology , monoclonal antibody , staining , gene , neoplastic transformation , cancer research , gene expression , antibody , medicine , immunology , cell cycle , genetics
Proto‐oncogenes are important in both normal cellular differentiation and in carcinogenesis. The majority of transforming genes belong to the ras family and the ras gene product has been shown to be elevated in some oral carcinomas. RAP‐5 monoclonal antibody was used to determine the expression of the p21 ras protein in normal and neoplastic oral mucosa in an immunohistological study. The expression of p21 ras protein was generally restricted to acanthous cells with strong staining in normal oral mucosa and well‐differentiated carcinomas. In contrast, the p21 ras protein was not detected in significant amounts in severely dysplastic lesions and poorly differentiated carcinomas. These results suggest that expression of p21 ras is a normal feature of more fully differentiated tissues, both normal and neoplastic, and is not useful as an indicator of cell proliferation or ‘malignant potential’.