HIGH-INCIDENCE OF CONSERVATIVE RAS MUTATIONS IN ACUTE MYELOID-LEUKEMIA

RAS mutations are found in about 25% of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) c ases. The importance of these changes is unknown, If RAS mutations con fer growth advantage to leukemia subclones in which they emerge, subst antially more nonconservative than conservative mutations should be fo und. The incidence of conservative mutations was not reported previous ly. We sequenced N-RAS and K-RAS codons 12 and 13 and N-RAS codon 61 i n 20 subjects with newly diagnosed AML. Four nonconservative N-RAS mut ations and 4 conservative K-RAS mutations were found. There were no di fferences between subjects with AML and nonconservative RAS mutations and those with conservative or without RAS mutations, Additional. stud ies are needed to examine the incidence of conservative RAS mutations in subjects with AML.