Molecular mechanisms in lung pathogenesis

Detection of c-Ki-ras gene mutation in paraffin sections of adenocarcinoma and atypical bronchioloalveolar cell hyperplasia of human lung

DNA of minute specimens taken from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue was used as a template for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to examine whether the c-Ki-ras gene is activated in atypical bronchioloalveolar cell hyperplasia (ABH) of human lung. The c-Ki-ras gene was successfully amplified on 131 samples from 29 cases of lung adenocarcinoma (87.3% of all samples used as templates) by the nested PCR method. Point mutations at codon 12 of the c-Ki-ras gene could be detected in carcinoma tissue of 6 cases (20.7% of all cases), also detected in ABHs showing moderate to severe atypia of 2 cases. PCR amplification is a useful technique for studying pin-point pathological lesions in a routine paraffin section at the molecular level.

Isolation of DNA sequences deleted in lung cancer by genomic difference cloning

To identify DNA sequences that are deleted in human lung cancer, genomic subtraction hybridization was used to construct plasmid libraries that are enriched for DNA sequences deleted in the small cell lung carcinoma cell line SK-LC-17. The clones of the libraries contained predominantly single copy sequences, allowing direct screening of normal and tumor DNA by genomic Southern blotting. Of 150 clones tested, three independent clones (del-27, del-118, and del-109) were identified that specifically hybridized with normal human DNA but not with tumor DNA from the cell line SK-LC-17. The corresponding DNA sequences are localized on human chromosomes 5, 8, and X/Y. The DNA regions identified by del-109 and del-118 were also found to be deleted in several other lung carcinoma cell lines. Moreover, del-118 was deleted in a freshly isolated lymph node metastasis of a human lung adenocarcinoma. It is therefore reasonable to speculate that the identified clones are derived from independent genetic loci encoding potential tumor suppressor genes.