Abstract 2466: Tobacco carcinogen-enhanced lung tumorigenesis in Gprc5a knockout mice recapitulates human lung cancer development

Abstract Lung carcinogenesis occurs through a multi-step process, which involves the activation or over-expression of oncogenes and the inactivation or silencing of tumor-suppressor genes. Mouse models for human lung cancer have proven to be valuable tools for understanding the basic tumor biology as well as for the development and validation of new approaches to cancer prevention and therapy. Previously, we found that mice with a knockout (KO) of G-protein coupled receptor 5A (Gprc5a) develop lung tumors after a long latent period (12 to 24 months). To determine whether a tobacco carcinogen will enhance tumorigenesis in this model, we administered 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) i.p. to 2-months old Gprc5a-KO mice and sacrificed groups (n=5) of mice at 6, 9, 12, and 18 months later. Compared to control Gprc5a-KO mice, NNK-treated mice developed lung tumors at least 6 months earlier, exhibited 2- to 4-fold increased tumor incidence and multiplicity, and showed a dramatic increase in lesion size. A signature of differentially expressed genes derived by transcriptome analysis of epithelial cell lines from normal lungs of Gprc5a-KO mice and from NNK-induced adenocarcinoma was highly similar to differential expression patterns observed between normal and tumorigenic human lung cells. The signature also separated both mouse and human adenocarcinomas from normal lung tissues based on publicly available microarray datasets. A key feature of the signature, up-regulation of UBE2C, MCM2, and FEN-1, was validated in mouse normal lung and adenocarcinoma tissues and cells by immunohistochemistry and western blotting, respectively. Our findings support the following conclusions: 1) lung tumorigenesis in the Gprc5a-KO mouse model is augmented by NNK, 2) gene expression changes induced by tobacco carcinogen(s) are conserved between mouse and human lung epithelial cells, 3) the Gprc5a-KO mouse model recapitulates human lung adenocarcinoma. Thus, the Gprc5a-KO mouse model could be useful for cancer chemoprevention studies. Supported by the Samueal Waxman Cancer Research Foundation and the NCI Cancer Center Core Grant P30-CA16672. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2466.