Expression of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit genes in non-small-cell lung cancer reveals differences between smokers and nonsmokers.

Nicotine and its derivatives, by binding to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) on bronchial epithelial cells, can regulate cellular proliferation and apoptosis via activating the Akt pathway. Delineation of nAChR subtypes in non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC) may provide information for prevention or therapeutic targeting. Expression of nAChR subunit genes in 66 resected primary NSCLCs, 7 histologically non-involved lung tissues, 13 NSCLC cell lines, and 6 human bronchial epithelial cell lines (HBEC) was analyzed with quantitative PCR and microarray analysis. Five nonmalignant HBECs were exposed to nicotine in vitro to study the variation of nAChR subunit gene expression with nicotine exposure and removal. NSCLCs from nonsmokers showed higher expression of nAChR alpha6 (P < 0.001) and beta3 (P = 0.007) subunit genes than those from smokers, adjusted for gender. In addition, nAChR alpha4 (P < 0.001) and beta4 (P = 0.029) subunit gene expression showed significant difference between NSCLCs and normal lung. Using Affymetrix GeneChip U133 Sets, 65 differentially expressed genes associated with NSCLC nonsmoking nAChR alpha6beta3 phenotype were identified, which gave high sensitivity and specificity of prediction. nAChR alpha1, alpha5, and alpha7 showed significant reversible changes in expression levels in HBECs upon nicotine exposure. We conclude that between NSCLCs from smokers and nonsmokers, different nAChR subunit gene expression patterns were found, and a 65-gene expression signature was associated with nonsmoking nAChR alpha6beta3 expression. Finally, nicotine exposure in HBECs resulted in reversible differences in nAChR subunit gene expression. These results further implicate nicotine in bronchial carcinogenesis and suggest targeting nAChRs for prevention and therapy in lung cancer.

Association of exon 19 and 21 EGFR mutation patterns with treatment outcome after first-line tyrosine kinase inhibitor in metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated whether there were differential survival outcomes to first-line tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) in patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer harboring different subtypes of exon 19 and exon 21 mutations on epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). METHODS: Of 452 patients with stage IIIB and IV non-small-cell lung cancer, 192 patients (42.5%) harbored EGFR mutation and 170 (37.5%) received TKI as first-line treatment. EGFR mutation analysis was performed by direct sequencing. Survival and response outcome were compared among different subtypes of exon 19 and exon 21 EGFR mutations in these 170 patients. RESULTS: Patients harboring exon 19 18-nucleotide deletion (delL747_P753insS) had the shortest median progression-free survival (PFS) (6.5 months), followed by those with 15-nucleotide deletion (delE746_A750) (12.4 months) and mixed insertion/substitution mutations (22.3 months; p = 0.012). However, patients who had exon 19 deletions starting on codon E746 had better median PFS (14.2 months) than those starting on L747 (6.5 months; hazard ratio, 0.445; 95% confidence interval [0.219-0.903]; p = 0.021). Besides, exon 21 L858R derived a longer median PFS than L861R/L861Q (11.4 months versus 2.1 months, respectively; hazard ratio, 0.298; 95% confidence interval [0.090-0.980]; p = 0.034). CONCLUSIONS: Different subtypes of EGFR exon 19 and 21 mutations exhibited differential survival to first-line TKI therapy. Detailed sequence evaluation of exon 19 deletions may provide important prognostic information on survival outcome after TKI.

Establishment and expression profiling of new lung cancer cell lines from Chinese smokers and lifetime never-smokers.

BACKGROUND: Bronchogenic adenocarcinoma is the predominant histologic subtype of lung cancer, which ranks top in the cancer mortality in both men and women. Female nonsmokers and adenocarcinoma have emerged as a distinct combination in patients with lung cancer in recent decades. Lung cancer cell lines established from patients with known clinical characteristics such as gender and smoking habit would be useful for future research on lung cancer. METHODS: Four new lung adenocarcinoma cell lines (HKULC 1-4) were established from Chinese patients with primary lung adenocarcinomas and with different clinical characteristics with respect to age, gender, smoking habits, tumor staging, and previous therapy. They were characterized by immunohistochemical and growth kinetic studies, tests for tumorigenicity in nude mice, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutation analysis, and in situ hybridization, and gene expression profiling with Affymetrix GeneChip HG-U133A. RESULTS: The newly established HKULC lung adenocarcinoma cell lines were maintained for over 70 passages and demonstrated morphologic and immunohistochemical features and growth kinetics of tumor cell lines. One of the four HKULC cell lines, HKULC 3 (derived from a female nonsmoking patient with lung adenocarcinoma), was found to have a deletion at exon 19 of the EGFR gene. EGFR in situ hybridization showed no EGFR gene amplification in these cell lines. HKULC 1 and 4 formed tumor xenografts after inoculation in nude mice. A list of 71 genes that were differentially expressed or showing class predictive significance was identified. These genes included putative tumor suppressor genes (DKK3, SERPINF1, CDH11, DSC3, and KLF6), genes involved in or related to the EGFR pathways (ERBB3, MUC1, VAV1), genes involved in regulation of cell cycle and proliferation (CDKN1A and CDKN2A), a putative oncogene (EEF1A2), and a gene related to metastasis (MTSS1). DISCUSSION: Four new lung adenocarcinoma cell lines were established from patients with different clinical characteristics. These characterized cell lines and their gene expression profiles will provide resources for studies of lung cancer biology and in vitro chemotherapeutic drug study.