Transformation Of Tracheal Epithelial Cells And The Role Of Transforming Growth Factor (TGF) And P53 In The Lung Cancer Progression

Although lung Cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world, little is known yet about genetic changes associated with its development and/or progression. One of the reasons is the scarcity of appropriate experimental models suited to define multiple stages in the progression. To facilitate the study of carcinogenesis of lung cancer , we have developed a number of experimental models including rat tracheal epithelial(RTE) celltransformation system and two SV40 Tantigen immortalized human bronchial epithelial(HBE) cell lines which did not produce malignant tumors upon inoculation into nude mice.Cigarette smoking is the major cause of lung cancer. Using RTE transformation system, we investigated the potential of cigarette smoking to induce neoplastic transformation and the chemopreventive effect of 6-phenylhexyl isothiocyanate(PHITC). And what we focused on in this study was to investigate the role of growth factors, especially transforming growth factor(TGF), and P53 tumor suppressorgene in the lung cancer progression by using the human and rat tracheobronchial epithelial cell transformation models mentioned before and some specimens from lung cancer patients. The results are summarized as follows:1. RTE cells were transformed by cigarette smoking condensate (CSC) and tobacco specific nitrosamine NNK. PHITC was able to inhibit the NNK...