The expression of oncogene fms in human chorionic tissue

: The roles of oncogenes have been a subject of great interest not only concerning oncogenesis but also recently concerning physiological regulation in cell proliferation and cell differentiation. We here report the expression of oncogene fms in human chorionic tissue using a molecular hybridization method. RNAs extracted from human chorionic tissue of the first and third trimester were electrophoresed in horizontal agarose gel, blotted according to Northern's method and were hybridized to 32P labeled fms-cDNA (complementary DNA). Four kb RNA molecules homologous to fms-cDNA were detected in chorionic RNAs of the first and third trimester placental tissue with an increase toward term. We then observed the distribution of fms-mRNA in chorionic tissue with in situ hybridization. The signals for fms were observed over trophoblasts without specific localization to the proliferative cells. These results revealed that oncogene fms is expressed in human chorionic tissue of both the first and third trimester. Furthermore the results suggest that the role of fms c-onc may be related to cell differentiation and not to cell proliferation.