Cell-type specific tumorigenesis with Ras oncogenes in human lung epithelial cells

Abstract The oncogenic Ras mutation is one of the most common genomic abnormalities having the highest incidence in cancer; it has three isoforms: Hras, Kras, and Nras. Although the Ras isoforms are highly similar in the primary sequence, each mutational frequency is clearly distinct according to tissue- or cell-type. Regarding non-small-cell lung carcinoma, almost all Kras mutations have been detected in lung adenocarcinoma, whereas lung squamous cell carcinoma is extremely rare. Here, we focus on the cell-type specific tumorigenesis of mutant Ras isoforms and determine the mechanisms of oncogenic signaling outputs between lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. An in vitro transformation model with mutant Ras isoforms in immortalized bronchial epithelial cells (BEC-E6E7/myc) and immortalized small airway epithelial cells (SAEC-E6E7/myc) revealed that only the HrasG12V mutation, not the KrasG12V mutation, could induce tumorigenesis in BEC-E6E7/myc. In contrast, SAEC-E6E7/myc showed high sensitivity to the KrasG12V mutation compared with the HrasG12V mutation. The transformation of BEC-E6E7/myc and SAEC-E6E7/myc with mutant Ras isoforms was confirmed by soft agar assay and migration assay. HrasG12V-expressing BEC-E6E7/myc significantly increased MAPK/ERK signaling, whereas PI3K/AKT signaling was significantly elevated in KrasG12V-expressing SAEC-E6E7/myc. These results suggest a context dependency with oncogenic Ras mutations in tumorigenesis between lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.