Fritz Haber: December 9, 1868-January 29, 1934.

Fritz Haber (1868-1934) was a German physical chemist. Nobel laureate and foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences. His greatest accomplishment in science was the development of a practical method to prepare nitrogen from air (nitrogen fixation or Haber-Bosch process). While working on the toxicity of war gases. he formulated 'Haber's rule', also known as C x T= constant in order to characterize the toxicity of an inhalant. Between 1919 and 1933. he was one of the leading figures in revitalizing science in Germany. At his institute in Berlin worked such luminaries as Albert Einstein, Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn. His last paper described what became known as the Haber-Weiss reaction. After his death he was for a long time forgotten by the Nazis because he was Jewish and after World War II by the Allies because of his work on war gases in World War I. And yet he was one of the truly great modern scientists. not only because of his science, but also because of the role he played in science politics and policies.

Quantitation and localization of pulmonary manganese superoxide dismutase and tumor necrosis factor alpha following exposure to ozone and nitrogen dioxide.

Tumor necrosis factor a (TNFalpha) and manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) are thought to play critical roles in the process of lung injury, repair, and disease. The induction of TNFalpha and MnSOD were examined in a model of progressive pulmonary fibrosis along the length of the alveolar duct in rats exposed for 1, 5, and 8 weeks to a combination of 0.8 ppm ozone and 14.4 ppm nitrogen dioxide. This oxidant injury model results in a triphasic response with an initial inflammatory stage during weeks 1-3, followed by a partial resolution at weeks 4-5, and a final stage of rapidly progressive fibrosis during weeks 6-8. Changes in TNFalpha and MnSOD labeling for the proximal and distal alveolar ducts of the lungs were quantified using immunohistochemistry and morphometric techniques at 1, 5, and 8 weeks of exposure. A significant elevation in MnSOD was noted in alveolar macrophages and interstitial cells of the proximal and distal portions of the alveolar duct following 8 weeks of exposure. Labeling for TNFalpha only in the proximal region of the alveolar duct, was significantly increased in alveolar macrophages after 1 and 8 weeks of exposure, while a significant increase in TNFalpha labeling of interstitial cells in proximal regions was noted at all time points. We conclude that MnSOD is elevated in areas of focal injury as well as the more distal protected areas of the lungs, while TNFalpha correlates strongly with both the temporal and spatial aspects of greatest cellular injury in the lungs.

Chemoprevention of tobacco-smoke lung carcinogenesis in mice after cessation of smoke exposure.

Male strain A/J mice were exposed for 6 h per day, 5 days per week to a mixture of 89% cigarette sidestream smoke and 11% mainstream smoke. Total suspended particulate concentrations were 137 mg/m(3). In experiment 1, animals were exposed for 5 months to tobacco smoke and given a 4 month recovery period in air. Lung tumor multiplicity was 2.4 and incidence 89%. Animals exposed to filtered air had 1.0 tumor per lung (65% incidence). In animals kept for 5 months in smoke, removed into air and then fed a diet containing a mixture of myoinositol and dexamethasone, tumor multiplicity was 1.0 and incidence was 62%. These values were significantly (P < 0.01) lower than in animals exposed to smoke and identical to values seen in controls. In animals fed a diet containing 250 mg/kg each of phenethyl isothiocyanate and benzyl isothiocyanate during the entire 9 months, lung tumor multiplicity was 2.1 and incidence 96%, not significantly different from animals exposed to smoke and fed control diet. In experiment 2, animals were exposed for 5 months to smoke, followed by a 4 month recovery period in air and were fed during the entire period a diet containing either D-limonene or 1, 4-phenylenebis(methylene)selenoisocyanate (p-XSC). In animals exposed to tobacco smoke and fed control diet, lung tumor multiplicity was 2.8, whereas in the animals fed D-limonene it was 2. 6 and in the animals fed p-XSC it was 2.4. The differences to the controls were statistically not significant. It was concluded that myoinositol-dexamethasone successfully prevents the development of tobacco smoke-induced lung tumors even if administered when the animals have 'quit' smoking. On the other hand, agents otherwise shown to prevent lung tumor formation following administration of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone or benzo[a]pyrene were ineffective against tobacco smoke.

Successful and not so successful chemoprevention of tobacco smoke-induced lung tumors.

Strain A/J mice underwent whole body exposure for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 5 months to a mixture of cigarette sidestream and mainstream smoke (89%-11%; total suspended particulates 80-150 mg/m3), then were kept for another 4 months in air before being killed for scoring of lung tumors. In 7 independent experiments, lung tumor multiplicity was significantly increased in all 7 trials and lung tumor incidence in 5. When animals were kept for 9 months in smoke, lung tumor multiplicity was not significantly higher than in controls, although lung tumor incidence was. The following chemopreventive agents were evaluated: green tea, phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC), acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), N-acetylcysteine (NAC), p-XSC (1,4-phenylenebis[methylene]selenocyanate), d-limonene (DL), and a mixture of PEITC and BITC (benzyl isothiocyanate). In animals exposed to tobacco smoke, none of these agents reduced lung tumor multiplicity or incidence. As a control, the effects of the same agents were examined in A/J mice initiated with 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) or urethane. In mice injected with NNK, green tea and ASA did not reduce lung tumor multiplicities and NAC had no effect on urethane-induced lung tumors, whereas PEITC, p-XSC and DL reduced NNK-induced tumor multiplicities to 20% to 50% of control values. On the other hand, dietary mixture of myoinositol and dexamethasone was not only highly protective against NNK, but reduced lung tumor multiplicities and incidence in smoke-exposed animals to control values. This effect was also seen when the animals were fed the myo-inositol-dexamethasone mixture once they were removed from smoke. It is concluded that in animal studies it might be preferable to evaluate the effectiveness of putative chemopreventive agents against full tobacco smoke rather than against selected model compounds. The observations made with myo-inositol-dexamethasone suggest that people who have recently quit smoking might benefit the most from active chemoprevention.

The role of CC10 in pulmonary carcinogenesis: from a marker to tumor suppression.

CC10 is infrequently expressed in human non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs), despite being abundantly produced by progenitor cells for normal and neoplastic epithelium. Many abnormalities in the surrounding lung associated with field carcinogenesis, which reflect prolonged exposure to such carcinogens as tobacco smoke, also revealed altered expression of CC10. Exposure of hamsters and mice to the tobacco-specific carcinogen NNK led to reduced CC10 expression, which was partially reversible. Overexpression of CC10 in immortalized bronchial epithelial cells delayed the induction of anchorage-independent growth in response to NNK. The data suggest that downregulation of CC10 contributes to carcinogenesis because CC10 antagonizes the neoplastic phenotype.

Chemoprevention of tobacco smoke-induced lung tumors in A/J strain mice with dietary myo-inositol and dexamethasone.

Male A/J strain mice were fed AIN-76A diet supplemented with myo-inositol/dexamethasone (10 g and 0.5 mg/kg diet) or acetylsalicylic acid (300 mg/kg) and exposed for 5 months to a mixture of sidestream and mainstream cigarette smoke at a concentration of 132 mg total suspended particulates/m3. After tobacco smoke exposure, they were allowed to recover for another 4 months in filtered air. In the animals fed AIN-75A diet alone or acetylsalicylic acid, the average number of tumors/lung was 2.1, whereas in the animals given the myo-inositol/dexamethasone diet, the average lung tumor multiplicity was 1.0 (P < 0.05). In animals exposed to filtered air, lung tumor multiplicities were 0.6 for animals fed AIN-76A or myo-inositol/dexamethasone and 1.2 for animals fed acetylsalicylic acid. It was concluded that the combination of myo-inositol and dexamethasone constitutes an effective chemopreventive regimen against tobacco smoke-induced lung tumorigenesis.

Centriacinar remodeling and sustained procollagen gene expression after exposure to ozone and nitrogen dioxide.

Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 0.8 ppm ozone (O3), to 14.4 ppm nitrogen dioxide (NO2), or to both gases simultaneously for 6 h per day for up to 90 d. The extent of histopathologic changes within the central acinus of the lungs was compared after 7 or 78 to 90 d of exposure using morphometric analysis by placement of concentric arcs radiating outward from a single reference point at the level of the bronchiole- alveolar duct junction. Lesions in the lungs of rats exposed to the mixture of gases extended approximately twice as far into the acinus as in those exposed to each individual gas. The extent of tissue involvement was the same at 78 to 90 d as noted at 7 d in all exposure groups. At the end of exposure, in situ hybridization for procollagen types I and III demonstrated high levels of messenger RNA within central acini in the lungs of animals exposed to the combination of O3 and NO2. In contrast, animals exposed to each individual gas had a similar pattern of message expression compared with that seen in control animals, although centriacinar histologic changes were still significantly different from control animals. We conclude that the progressive pulmonary fibrosis that occurs in rats exposed to the combination of O3 and NO2 is due to sustained, elevated expression of the genes for procollagen types I and III. This effect at the gene level is correlated with the more severe histologic lesions seen in animals exposed to both O3 and NO2 compared with those exposed to each individual gas. In contrast, the sustained expression of the procollagen genes is not associated with a shift in the distribution of the lesions because the area of change in each group after 7 d of exposure was the same as after 78 to 90 d of exposure.

Ozone carcinogenesis revisited.

The question was asked whether ozone would act as a lung carcinogen in mice. To test the hypothesis, female strain A/J mice were exposed for 6 h/day, 5 days/week to 0.12 ppm, 0.5 ppm, or 1.0 ppm of ozone; control animals were kept in filtered air. No ozone-related deaths were observed at any time during the experiment. After 5 months, one-third of the animals were killed. The remaining animals were split into two groups: exposure to ozone continued for one group, whereas the other group was transferred into filtered air. Four months later, these animals were killed. No significant increase in lung tumor multiplicity (average number of tumors per lung) or lung tumor incidence (percentage of tumor-bearing animals) was found in the animals exposed to ozone when compared to animals kept in filtered air, regardless of ozone concentration. Morphometric analysis of lungs of animals exposed to the highest ozone concentration (1.0 ppm) showed a small, statistically not significant increase in centriacinar lesions. It was concluded that ozone is not a lung carcinogen in strain A/J mice at those exposure levels. Moreover, this mouse strain appears to be particularly resistant towards chronic ozone toxicity.

MUC1 is a novel marker for the type II pneumocyte lineage during lung carcinogenesis.

Abnormalities in mucin-type glycoprotein expression have been documented in a variety of cancers, identifying these molecules as targets for immunologically based therapies and prognostic/diagnostic assays. We examined the expression of the membrane-bound MUC1 mucin in normal, histologically atypical, and neoplastic lung to determine its potential contribution to lung carcinogenesis. In vivo, intense MUC1 immunoreactivity was present in normal type II pneumocytes as well as in a range of atypical lesions derived from type II cells and >60% of primary and metastatic non-small cell lung cancers. Expression was not associated with altered survival, although it was highly correlated with the adenocarcinoma histology. A carcinogenesis model using 4-(N-methyl-N-nitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone-exposed hamsters revealed that MUC1 mRNA increased prior to the histological appearance of tumors. In vitro studies using MUC1 expressing non-small cell lung cancer cell lines revealed that differentiation away from a type II cell lineage was associated with dramatic down-regulation of MUC1. We propose that MUC1 is a powerful new marker for the type II pneumocyte cell lineage that allows us to follow the type II pneumocyte lineage during the process of lung carcinogenesis.

The effects of phenethyl isothiocyanate, N-acetylcysteine and green tea on tobacco smoke-induced lung tumors in strain A/J mice.

Male and female strain A/J mice were exposed to a mixture of cigarette sidestream and mainstream smoke at a chamber concentration of total suspended particulates of 82.5 mg/m3. Exposure time was 6 h/day, 5 days/week for 5 months. The animals were allowed to recover for another 4 months in filtered air before sacrifice and lung tumor count. Male animals were fed either 0.2% N-acetylcysteine (NAC) or 0.05% phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) in diet AIN-76A with 5% corn oil added. Female animals received normal laboratory chow and were given a 1.25% extract of green tea in the drinking water. Corresponding control groups were fed diets without NAC or PEITC or given plain tap water. Exposure to tobacco smoke increased lung tumor multiplicity to 1.1-1.6 tumors/lung, significantly higher than control values (0.5-1.0 tumors/lung). None of the putative chemopreventive agents (NAC, PEITC or green tea extract) had a protective effect. In positive control experiments, PEITC significantly reduced both lung tumor multiplicity and incidence in mice treated with the tobacco smoke-specific carcinogen 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK). In mice treated with three different doses of urethan and fed NAC in the diet, a significant reduction in lung tumor multiplicity was found only at one dose level. Green tea extract did not reduce lung tumor multiplicity in animals treated with a single dose of NNK. It was concluded that successful chemoprevention of tobacco smoke-induced lung tumorigenesis might require administration of several chemopreventive agents rather than just a single one.

Overexpression of CC10 modifies neoplastic potential in lung cancer cells.

CC10 is infrequently expressed in non-small cell lung cancer cell lines, despite being abundantly produced by progenitor cells for normal and neoplastic airway epithelium. We overexpressed CC10 cDNA in the non-small cell lung cancer cell line A549 to determine its effect on the neoplastic phenotype. A549 cells transfected with CC10 demonstrated a marked reduction in invasiveness that was paralleled by diminished 92-kDa and absent 72-kDa metalloproteinase activity by zymography. Western analysis revealed the near absence of the corresponding matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) MMP-2 and MMP-9 in the CC10-transfected cell lines, but not in the vector-transfected cell lines. The CC10-transfected cell lines also demonstrated decreased adhesiveness to fibronectin compared with the controls. CC10 expression was associated with decreased anchorage-independent growth but not with decreased anchorage-dependent growth. These data suggest that loss of CC10 may contribute to carcinogenesis, because CC10 antagonizes the neoplastic phenotype.