Project description:Although smoking is the major risk factor for lung cancer, only 7% of female lung cancer patients in Taiwan have a history of cigarette smoking, extremely lower than those in Caucasian females. This report is a comprehensive analysis of the molecular signature of non-smoking female lung cancer in Taiwan. RNA was extracted from paired tumor and normal tissues for gene expression analysis.
Project description:Although smoking is the major risk factor for lung cancer, only 7% of female lung cancer patients in Taiwan have a history of cigarette smoking, extremely lower than those in Caucasian females. This report is a comprehensive analysis of the molecular signature of non-smoking female lung cancer in Taiwan.
Project description:Even though smoking is associated with lung cancer, the exact molecular pathways that link carcinogens with inflammation and oncogenic transformation are not well elucidated. Nicotine-derived nitrosamine ketone, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) and Benzo(α)pyrene (BaP) are two major carcinogens in cigarette smoke and have not been tested in models that mimic inhaled exposure for prolonged periods of time. We treated ICR mice with intratracheal delivery of NNK and BaP three times a week for 18 months to mimic chronic smoking exposure. Mice developed epithelial dysplasia followed by lung cancers at increased rates relative to controls. Histology revealed myeloid inflammation in murine lung tissues. Exposure of lung epithelial cells to cigarette smoking condensate led to increased production of pro-inflammatory IL-1. Downstream mediator of IL-1β signaling, Interleukin 1 receptor associated kinase–4 (IRAK4), was overexpressed in murine lung tissues exposed to carcinogens in vivo. Two-thirds of human lung cancer samples also exhibited overactivated IRAK4 expression. IRAK4 was found to localize in microtubules in lung cancer cell lines. Using mass spectrometry on isolated microtubules, we observed that IRAK4 inhibition was associated with decreased phosphorylation of tubular motility proteins including MYH9. Inhibition of IRAK4 resulted in decreased invasion in lung cancer cell lines and reduced growth of lung cancer xenografts. These data demonstrate that smoking associated carcinogens cause myeloid inflammation that can be linked to oncogenic transformation via IRAK4 activation.
Project description:<p>The majority of cases of lung cancer are the culmination of a dynamic process that begins with smoking initiation, proceeds through dependency and smoking persistence, continues with lung cancer development and ends with progression to disseminated disease or response to therapy and survival. We are conducting a whole genome study of lung cancer and smoking to examine critical steps in lung cancer progression.</p> <p>This study is a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to investigate the genetic determinants of lung cancer risk. The study design efficiently allows identification of genes that also contribute to smoking persistence and outcome from lung cancer using a single GWAS of 5,900 subjects using the primary GENEVA dataset, derived from two studies. The first is the <b>E</b>nvironment <b>a</b>nd <b>G</b>enetics in <b>L</b>ung Cancer <b>E</b>tiology Study (EAGLE), a population-based, biologically intensive, case-control study from the Lombardy region of Italy including ~2000 newly diagnosed lung cancer cases and ~2000 age-, gender- and region- matched controls. The second is the <b>P</b>rostate, <b>L</b>ung, <b>C</b>olon and <b>O</b>vary Study (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial from which we have selected ~850 lung cancer cases and ~850 controls, also matched on age and gender. Understanding the basis for the well-established hereditary component of lung cancer and smoking persistence could provide new insights into etiology, prevention, and treatment, and have an enormous impact on public health.</p> <p>The same GWAS genotyping data in the two studies will be used to investigate the genetic determinants of smoking persistence. Specifically, we will analyze current smokers and former smokers from EAGLE and PLCO for diverse smoking phenotypes, including persistence of smoking as well as ever/never smoking comparisons, quitting attempts, and the Fagerström index of tobacco addiction.</p> <p>PLCO participants are all European-Americans and EAGLE involves subjects from Italy.<br/> EAGLE is a case-control study and contains 3937 phenotyped subjects.<br/> PLCO is a screening trial with a cohort design and contains 1651 phenotyped subjects.</p> <p>This study is part of the Gene Environment Association Studies initiative (GENEVA, <a href="http://www.genevastudy.org" target="_blank">http://www.genevastudy.org</a>) funded by the trans-NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to lung cancer and smoking through large-scale genome-wide association studies of population-based samples of lung cancer cases and controls. Genotyping was performed at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR). Data cleaning and harmonization were done at the GEI-funded GENEVA Coordinating Center at the University of Washington.</p>
Project description:Cigarette smoke is associated with the majority of lung cancers: however, 25% of lung cancer patients are non-smokers, and half of all newly diagnosed lung cancer patients are former smokers. Lung tumors exhibit distinct epidemiological, clinical, pathological, and molecular features depending on smoking status, suggesting divergent mechanisms underlie tumorigenesis in smokers and non-smokers. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are integral contributors to tumorigenesis and mediate biological responses to smoking. Based on the hypothesis that smoking-specific miRNA differences in lung adenocarcinomas reflect distinct tumorigenic processes selected by different smoking and non-smoking environments, we investigated the contribution of miRNA disruption to lung tumor biology and patient outcome in the context of smoking status. Results: We discovered novel and distinct smoking-status-specific patterns of miRNA and miRNA-mediated gene networks, and identified miRNAs that were prognostically significant in a smoking-dependent manner. Conclusions: We conclude that miRNAs disrupted in a smoking-status-dependent manner affect distinct cellular pathways and differentially influence lung cancer patient prognosis in current, former and never smokers. Our findings may represent promising biologically relevant markers for lung cancer prognosis or therapeutic intervention.
Project description:Genome-Wide Screening of Genomic Alterations and Transcriptional Modulation in Non-Smoking Female Lung Cancer in Taiwan Sixty-one pairs of cancer and normal lung tissue specimens from non-smoking females were collected at National Taiwan University Hospital and Taichung Veterans General Hospital. The selection criteria of clinical specimens depend on pathology report, physical examination and cigarette-smoking history. Surgical lung tissue specimens were immediately snap-frozen in liquid N2 and stored at -80 °C. Surgical specimens would be further processed for RNA and DNA extraction. Only those samples passed quality controls were processed for gene expression profiling analysis and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis respectively.