ROLE OF C-FES IN NORMAL AND NEOPLASTIC HEMATOPOIESIS

The study of oncogenes has provided numerous insights, not only into t he mechanisms by which growth regulation becomes uncontrolled in cance r cells, but also into signal transduction processes which regulate th e orderly proliferation and maturation of cells, c-fes/fps is a cellul ar oncogene which has been transduced frequently by mammalian and avia n retroviruses, There are several features about Fes which suggest it may play a unique role in myeloid cell growth and differentiation. Whi le it contains a tyrosine kinase and SH2 domain, there is no SH3 domai n or carboxy terminal regulatory phosphotyrosine such as found in the Src family of kinases, Fes has a unique N-terminal domain of over 400 amino acids of unknown function, It has been implicated in signaling b y a variety of hematopoietic growth factors, and is predominantly a nu clear protein.