[Altered expression of protooncogenes during clinical course in an AML case transformed from MDS]

The changes of expression of oncogenes in the mononuclear cells of MDS case was studied during his clinical course, in series. His bone marrow was considered to maintain its function partly in initial stage, since both peripheral blood and bone marrow responded to clinical episodes. However, his hematopoietic function was gradually impaired with the disease evolution to AML. We examined the expression of four oncogenes in the mononuclear cells of his three clinical stages, early RAEB-t, RAEB-t and AML, to study the cause of transformation from MDS to AML. Early RAEB-t cells expressed all oncogenes studied other than c-myb, while only c-myc was weakly observed in RAEB-t. AML cells expressed c-myc, c-jun and c-myb, except for c-fms. The expression of c-fms and c-jun of early RAEB-t was considered to reflect the monocytosis induced by infections, and the expressions of c-myb and c-myc of AML cells were regarded as one of malignant signs of tumor transformation. These findings suggest that the evolutional transformation of MDS to AML was affected by the altered expression of oncogenes.