Modulation of oncogene and tumor suppressor gene expression in a hamster model of chronic lung injury with varying degrees of pulmonary neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia.

BACKGROUND: Intense pulmonary neuroendocrine cell (PNEC) hyperplasia occurs during preneoplastic lung injury in hamsters treated with diethylnitrosamine (DEN) plus hyperoxia. Alterations in oncogene and tumor suppressor gene expression during this process have not been explored. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Our goals were: (a) to analyze expression of genes potentially involved in growth and differentiation of PNECs and/or nonneuroendocrine pulmonary epithelial cells (non-PNECs) in hamsters treated for up to 20 weeks with hyperoxia and DEN or the major tobacco-derived nitrosamine, 4-(methylnitrosamine)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK); and (b) as a corollary, to determine which cells were most mitotically active by immunostaining for c-myc and proliferating cell nuclear antigen. RESULTS: Immunohistochemical analyses demonstrated intense PNEC hyperplasia after treatment with either DEN/O2 or NNK/O2. Whereas DEN/O2-induced PNEC hyperplasia spontaneously regressed, NNK/O2-induced PNEC hyperplasia continued to increase up to 20 weeks. Rb transcripts were decreased similarly in lungs from all treatment groups (NNK/O2 = DEN/O2 = DEN alone) in spite of large differences in PNEC hyperplasia between these groups. c-myc was overexpressed in lungs from animals treated with NNK/O2, DEN/O2 and DEN alone, in which c-myc protein immunostaining occurred predominantly in non-PNECs. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunostaining confirmed that non-PNECs were most mitotically active. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that PNEC hyperplasia is primarily due to PNEC differentiation, suggesting that this model is ideal for studying mechanisms of neuroendocrine differentiation. Paracrine effects of PNEC-derived growth factors may then contribute to dysregulation of non-PNEC growth preceding the ultimate development of non-neuroendocrine lung tumors in nitrosamine-treated hamsters.

Duke Scholars

Author Mary Elizabeth Anne Sunday Pathology

Author Christopher G. Willett Radiation Oncology