H-ras oncogene mutation in dedifferentiated liposarcoma. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis.

Point mutations of the ras gene family (K-ras, H-ras, and N-ras) are thought to be involved in the development of a variety of human tumors. Dedifferentiated liposarcoma is characterized by the coexistence of well-differentiated (WD) and high-grade anaplastic (HG) components. The presence of point mutations at codons 12 and 13 of the H-ras gene was studied in 34 liposarcomas, comprising 15 well-differentiated liposarcomas and 19 dedifferentiated liposarcomas, and in 8 storiform-pleomorphic type malignant fibrous histiocytomas (MFHs) using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and direct sequencing analysis. The 2 components of dedifferentiated liposarcoma were analyzed independently. H-ras mutations were seen only in dedifferentiated liposarcomas (4/19 [21%]), 1 in WD components and 3 in HG components. The mutation was not seen in any of 15 cases of well-differentiated liposarcoma. MFHs showed an H-ras mutation in 1 (12%) of 8 cases. Our results seem to suggest that the H-ras mutation is a relatively uncommon event in dedifferentiated liposarcoma, which may demonstrate an epiphenomenon of dedifferentiation in dedifferentiated liposarcoma.