Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P10721 (c-kit)
 6,575 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Similar to two other hematopoietic growth factor receptors, the c-fms (macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor) and the c-kit genes, c-mpl has been discovered through the study of oncogenic retroviruses. Unlike c-fms and c-kit, which both belong to a subgroup of tyrosine kinase receptors, the c-mpl proto-oncogene encodes a new member of the cytokine receptor superfamily. We have studied the expression of c-mpl in a series of 105 patients with hematologic malignancies using Northern blot analysis. The levels of c-mpl transcripts in lymphoid malignancies and in chronic myeloproliferative disorders were not significantly different from those found in normal bone marrow cells, in which c-mpl was barely detectable. In contrast, c-mpl expression was increased in 26 of 51 patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) and in 5 of 16 patients with myelodysplastic syndromes. Amplification of the c-mpl gene was detected in genomic DNA of one M4 AML patient. There was no significant correlation between c-mpl expression and the French-American-British classification of AML. Patients with high c-mpl expression appeared to belong to a subgroup of AML with a low rate of complete remission and a poor prognosis, including secondary leukemia and AML with unfavorable cytogenetic abnormalities.
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PMID:Expression of the c-mpl proto-oncogene in human hematologic malignancies. 839 55

The c-kit proto-oncogene encodes a 145 kd tyrosine kinase transmembrane receptor, which plays a key role in haemopoiesis. The c-kit has been classified as CD117 and is especially useful in the differential diagnosis of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We analysed 104 consecutive cases (55 AML, 23 B-cell lineage ALL, three T-cell ALL, 11 blast crisis of chronic myeloproliferative disorders and 12 cases of myelodysplastic syndromes with more than 10% of blasts) referred to our Hospital for immunophenotypic diagnosis and compared the expression pattern of CD13, CD33 and CD117 using the same fluorochrome (phycoerythrin-PE). The recommendations of the EGIL group were followed in order to establish lineage involvement of the blastic population. The threshold used to assign positivity for CD117 was 10%. Bcr/abl, TEL/AML-1 and MLL rearrangements were assessed by molecular methods. CD117 expression was detected in 91% of AML and MDS. All the negative cases corresponded to acute monocytic leukemias. The calculated specificity for myeloid involvement was 0.86 for CD117, 0.36 for CD13 and 0.44 for CD33 (P < 0.005). CD117 was also positive in four cases of ALL. None of these cases showed bcr/abl or MLL rearrangements. In the light of these findings, CD117 expression should yield a higher score, at least one point, in the system currently applied for the diagnosis of biphenotypic acute leukemias (BAL) as its myeloid specificity is greater than that of CD13 and CD33. Moreover, its absence in AML could identify two subgroups of M5b cases. The coexpression of CD117 with cytoplasmic CD79a is often associated with CD7 reactivity, suggesting a stem cell disorder. CD117 should be included on a routine basis for the immunophenotypic diagnosis of acute leukemias.
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PMID:Enhanced myeloid specificity of CD117 compared with CD13 and CD33. 1022 19

Imatinib mesylate is a small molecule drug that in vitro inhibits the Abelson (Abl), Arg (abl-related gene), stem cell factor receptor (Kit), and platelet-derived growth factor receptor A and B (PDGFRA and PDGFRB) tyrosine kinases. The drug has acquired therapeutic relevance because of similar inhibitory activity against certain activating mutations of these molecular targets. The archetypical disease in this regard is chronic myeloid leukemia, where abl is constitutively activated by fusion with the bcr gene (bcr/abl). Similarly, the drug has now been shown to display equally impressive therapeutic activity in eosinophilia-associated chronic myeloproliferative disorders that are characterized by activating mutations of either the PDGFRB or the PDGFRA gene. The former usually results from translocations involving chromosome 5q31-33, and the latter usually results from an interstitial deletion involving chromosome 4q12 (FIP1L1-PDGFRA). In contrast, imatinib is ineffective, in vitro and in vivo, against the mastocytosis-associated c-kit D816V mutation. However, wild-type and other c-kit mutations might be vulnerable to the drug, as has been the case in gastrointestinal stomal cell tumors. Imatinib is considered investigational for the treatment of hematologic malignancies without a defined molecular drug target, such as polycythemia vera, myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia, and acute myeloid leukemia.
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PMID:Imatinib targets other than bcr/abl and their clinical relevance in myeloid disorders. 1516 33