# C-MYC ONCOGENE REGULATION IN NORMAL AND MALIGNANT CELLS

> **NIH NIH R01** · COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE · 1991 · $214,958

## Abstract

Unregulated levels of myc protein, the gene product from the c-
myc proto-oncogene, are causal in the progressive development of
malignant transformation in a variety of animal and human
tumors.  The focus of this project is to study the regulation of two
processes which are important for determining the amount of myc
protein in cells:  c-myc transcription and c-myc mRNA stability.
The proposed study will elucidate normal regulatory events and
will also reveal how disruption of particular mechanisms can
result in malignant transformation.

The overall approach is to dissect biochemically and genetically
the function of individual proteins with the ultimate goal of
reproducing regulated c-myc transcription and mRNA degradation
from purified components in vitro.  We also wish to elucidate the
molecular nature of the nucleic acid-protein and protein-protein
interactions involved.

Transcriptional regulation involves multiple proteins, most
currently unknown, which somhow interact to form stable
initiation complexes.  Two c-myc transcription factors, previously
identified in this lab, will be purified so that cDNAs encoding
them can be cloned and expressed.  Availability of cDNA clones
and purified protein will allow the transcriptional activity of
these factors to be studied in vitro and the nature of their
interactions with DNA and other proteins to be determined.  We
will also study their regulated expression using both cDNAs and
antibodies.  In addition, all proteins binding 5' of the c-myc
transcription start sites and in the transcription pausing region
will be identified and subsequently analyzed for differential
activity when c-myc transcription is modulated.  Additional
factors will be studied, as described above.

Very little is understood regarding mRNA stability.  Recently,
this lab has developed a simple in vitro system which reproduces
the regulated degradation of c-myc mRNA observed in vivo.  This
puts us in a strong position to identify, purify and characterize
factors which are responsible for regulated c-myc mRNA
degradation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3176630
- **Project number:** 5R01CA038571-07
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE
- **SAM.gov UEI:** F4N1QNPB95M4
- **Principal Investigator:** KATHRYN L. CALAME
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1991
- **Award amount:** $214,958
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1988-09-01 → 1993-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3176630

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3176630, C-MYC ONCOGENE REGULATION IN NORMAL AND MALIGNANT CELLS (5R01CA038571-07). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3176630. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*