N-Myc Background Information
The v-Myc oncogene, initially identified in the MC29 avian retrovirus, causes myelocytomas, carcinomas, sarcomas and lymphomas (1), and belongs to a family of oncogenes conserved throughout evolution. In humans, the family consists of five genes: c-Myc, N-Myc, R-Myc, L-Myc and B-Myc (2). Amplification of the N-Myc gene has been found in human neuroblastomas and cell lines (3,5). The extent of N-Myc amplification correlates well with the stage of neuroblastoma disease (4). Immunological studies have shown that the human N-Myc gene encodes a nuclear phosphoprotein (2) that exhibits relatively short (30 min) half life in vivo. The prototype member of the family, c-Myc p67, binds DNA in a sequence-specific manner subsequent to dimerization with a second basic region helix-loop-helix leucine zipper motif protein designated Max (5-7).
