Abstract
Background: Chronic lung inflammation has been associated with an increased risk of lung cancer. However, it is unclear whether such an event affects the incidence of mutations in the K-ras oncogene frequently found in lung tumors and suggested to be involved in lung tumorigenesis. This study investigated potential impacts of inflammation on the incidence of lung tumors and K-ras mutations using a mouse model. Materials and Methods: FVB/N mice were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 16 weeks with or without co-treatment with 4-(methyl-nitrosoamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) during the first 4 weeks. Results: There was a significant increase in lung inflammatory responses in mice treated with LPS and with LPS+NNK, compared with mice treated with NNK or with vehicle. The average number of lung tumors per mouse was 3.87 (between 1 and 6) and 0.73 (between 0 and 3) in mice treated with LPS+NNK and NNK alone, respectively (p<0.0001). No lung tumors were observed in mice treated with LPS or vehicle. A higher proportion of lung tumors from mice treated with LPS+NNK had K-ras mutations, compared with the mice treated with NNK alone (81.03% versus 45.45%, p<0.05). Conclusion: LPS-elicited chronic lung inflammation significantly increases the risk of NNK-mediated lung tumorigenesis in FVB/N mice through K-ras gene activation by point mutations.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 2877-2882 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Anticancer Research |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 9 |
State | Published - Sep 2011 |
Keywords
- Carcinogenesis
- K-ras mutations
- Lung cancer
- Lung inflammation
- Lung tumors
- Mouse