Nakagawa T, Mabry M, de Bustros A, Ihle J N, Nelkin B D, Baylin S B
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Aug;84(16):5923-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.16.5923.
Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is an endocrine tumor of the thyroid C cells that expresses high levels of the neuroendocrine peptide hormone calcitonin. During tumor progression in the host, there is an apparent loss of differentiation in MTC cells that involves a consistent decrease in calcitonin content of the tumor cells associated with decreased expression of the calcitonin gene and/or changes in a mRNA alternative-processing pattern away from that characteristic of the parent thyroid C cell. We now report that introduction of the viral Harvey ras (v-Ha-ras) oncogene into cultured human MTC cells can reverse such changes in gene expression and can induce endocrine differentiation of the tumor cells. The expression of v-Ha-ras is associated with decreased cellular proliferation and DNA synthesis. There is a marked increase in the number of cytoplasmic secretory granules that are a classic feature of differentiated thyroid C cells. v-Ha-ras expression induces increased expression of the calcitonin gene and the processing of the primary gene transcript is shifted to favor calcitonin mRNA rather than calcitonin-gene-related peptide (CGRP) mRNA production. These studies with cultured human MTC cells provide a model system to study the role of Ha-ras and related genes in neuroendocrine differentiation. The findings suggest an important approach for identifying genes in solid tumors whose altered expression may play a role in the impaired maturational capacity characteristic of cancer cells during tumor progression.
甲状腺髓样癌(MTC)是一种甲状腺C细胞的内分泌肿瘤,其表达高水平的神经内分泌肽激素降钙素。在宿主体内肿瘤进展过程中,MTC细胞明显出现分化丧失,这涉及肿瘤细胞中降钙素含量持续下降,与降钙素基因表达降低和/或mRNA可变加工模式的改变有关,这种改变偏离了亲代甲状腺C细胞的特征模式。我们现在报告,将病毒哈维鼠肉瘤病毒癌基因(v-Ha-ras)导入培养的人MTC细胞中,可以逆转这种基因表达变化,并能诱导肿瘤细胞的内分泌分化。v-Ha-ras的表达与细胞增殖和DNA合成减少有关。作为分化型甲状腺C细胞典型特征的细胞质分泌颗粒数量显著增加。v-Ha-ras表达诱导降钙素基因表达增加,并且初级基因转录本的加工偏向于有利于降钙素mRNA而非降钙素基因相关肽(CGRP)mRNA的产生。这些对培养的人MTC细胞的研究提供了一个模型系统,以研究Ha-ras及相关基因在神经内分泌分化中的作用。这些发现提示了一种重要方法,可用于鉴定实体瘤中的基因,其表达改变可能在肿瘤进展过程中癌细胞成熟能力受损方面发挥作用。