Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Mutation of BRAF is uncommon in AML FAB type M1 and M2

Leukemia volume 17, pages 274–275 (2003)Cite this article

TO THE EDITOR

BRAF (v-raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1) is one of three related serine/threonine RAF kinases that form an essential part of the RAS–MAP kinase signalling pathway.1 It has been shown that activating RAS mutations occur in up to 30% of AML cases at presentation2 and that MAP kinase is activated in approximately 50% of AML samples,3 suggesting that this pathway may be important in leukaemogenesis. Recent work by Davies et al4 has identified BRAF mutations in a variety of cancer cell lines and primary human cancers. These all affect the kinase domain and have been shown to have transforming activity irrespective of RAS mutation status. While the majority of such BRAF mutations was identified in melanoma, colorectal cancer and ovarian tumours, no primary AML samples and only eight AML cell lines were screened. We therefore set out to determine the incidence of BRAF mutations in our AML patient population.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

References

  1. Daum, G, Eisenmann-Tappe, I, Fries, HW, Troppmair, J & Rapp, UR The ins and outs of Raf kinases. TIBS, (1994). 19, 474–480.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Byrne, JL & Marshall, CJ The molecular pathophysiology of myeloid leukaemias: Ras revisited. Br J Haematol, (1998). 100, 256–264.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Towatari, M, Iida, H, Tanimoto, M, Iwata, H, Hamaguchi, M & Saito, H Constitutive activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway in acute leukaemia cells. Leukemia, (1997). 11, 479–484.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Davies, H, Bignell, GR, Cox, C, Stephens, P, Edkins, S, Clegg, S, Teague, J, Woffendin, H, Garnett, MJ, Bottomley, W, Davis, N, Dicks, E, Ewing, R, Floyd, Y, Gray, K, Hall, S, Hawes, R, Hughes, J, Kosmidou, V, Menzies, A, Mould, C, Parker, A, Stevens, C, Watt, S, Hooper, S, Wilson, R, Jayatilake, H, Gusterson, BA, Cooper, C, Shipley, J, Hargrave, D, Pritchard-Jones, K, Maitland, N, Chenevix-Trench, G, Riggins, GJ, Bigner, DD, Palmieri, G, Cossu, A, Flanagan, A, Nicholson, A, Ho, JW, Leung, SY, Yuen, ST, Weber, BL, Siegler, HF, Darrow, TL, Paterson, H, Marais, R, Marshall, CJ, Wooster, R, Stratton, MR & Futreal, PA Mutations of the BRAF gene in human cancer. Nature, (2002). 417, 949–954.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Iida, M, Towatari, M, Nakao, A, Iida, H, Kiyoi, H, Nakano, Y, Tanimoto, M, Saito, H & Naoe, T Lack of constitutive activation of MAP kinase pathway in human acute myeloid leukaemia cells with N-Ras mutation. Leukemia, (1999). 13, 585–589.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Research UK Medical Oncology Unit, St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, UK

    M L Smith, J Snaddon, M Neat, M Cambal-Parrales, R Arch, T A Lister & J Fitzgibbon

Authors
  1. M L Smith
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J Snaddon
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M Neat
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. M Cambal-Parrales
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. R Arch
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. T A Lister
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  7. J Fitzgibbon
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Smith, M., Snaddon, J., Neat, M. et al. Mutation of BRAF is uncommon in AML FAB type M1 and M2. Leukemia 17, 274–275 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402787

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402787

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links