Lung Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Lung Cancer, including details on symptoms, smoking, genetics, treatment, causes.

Lineage-specific dependency of lung adenocarcinomas on the lung development regulator TTF-1.

Tanaka H, Yanagisawa K, Shinjo K, Taguchi A, Maeno K, Tomida S, Shimada Y, Osada H, Kosaka T, Matsubara H, Mitsudomi T, Sekido Y, Tanimoto M, Yatabe Y, Takahashi T

Division of Molecular Carcinogenesis, Center for Neurological Diseases and Cancer, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.

Emerging evidence, although currently very sparse, suggests the presence of "lineage-specific dependency" in the survival mechanisms of certain cancers. TTF-1 has a decisive role as a master regulatory transcription factor in lung development and in the maintenance of the functions of terminal respiratory unit (TRU) cells. We show that a subset of lung adenocarcinoma cell lines expressing TTF-1, which presumably represent those derived from the TRU lineage, exhibit marked dependence on the persistent expression of TTF-1. The inhibition of TTF-1 by RNA interference (RNAi) significantly and specifically induced growth inhibition and apoptosis in these adenocarcinoma cell lines. Furthermore, a fraction of TTF-1-expressing tumors and cell lines displayed an increase in the gene dosage of TTF-1 in the analysis of 214 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer, including 174 adenocarcinomas, showing a tendency of higher frequency of increased gene copies at metastatic sites than at primary sites (P=0.07, by two-sided Fisher's exact test). These findings strongly suggest that in addition to the development and maintenance of TRU lineages in normal lung, sustained TTF-1 expression may be crucial for the survival of a subset of adenocarcinomas that express TTF-1, providing credence for the lineage-specific dependency model.

Published 9 July 2007 in Cancer Res, 67(13): 6007-11.
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