c-fms is present in primary tumours as well as in their metastases in bone marrow.

The expression of c-fms oncoprotein in different primary tumours as well as in their metastases in bone marrow, was shown. All the samples were fixed and processed by the acetone, methyl benzoate, xylene procedure (AMeX), which was suitable for studying oncoprotein expression not only in primary tumours but also in bone marrow (BM) biopsies. Among the patients suffering from acute myeloid leukaemia (AMeL), positive c-fms cells were found in 55% cases. On the contrary, patients with lymphocytic cell disorders have not had detectable c-fms oncogene product in BM biopsies.c-fms oncoprotein was also detected in some primary tumour specimens (lung carcinoma, cervical carcinoma, gastric carcinoma, breast carcinoma and melanoma) and their metastases in BM, while it was not present in normal uterine tissue. There was a positive correlation between c-fms oncoprotein expression in primary and metastatic tumours. Our results showed that c-fms product is confined, not only to some normal, but also to the variety of malignant cells of different origin.