Low incidence of point mutation of c-Ki-ras and N-ras oncogenes in human hepatocellular carcinoma.

We examined the incidence of point mutation in codons 12, 13 and 61 of c-Ki-ras and N-ras genes in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using the polymerase chain reaction and oligonucleotide hybridization techniques. Among 34 tissues specimens surgically resected from 30 patients and 5 cell lines of human HCC, only two had ras point mutations; in one case, codon 12 of c-Ki-ras was altered from GGT, coding glycine, to GTT, coding valine; in the other case, codon 61 of N-ras was altered from CAA, coding glutamine, to AAA, coding lysine. Thus, point-mutational activation of ras oncogenes is an uncommon event in human HCC.