Increased susceptibility to the tobacco carcinogen 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone in transgenic mice overexpressing c-myc and epidermal growth factor in alveolar type II cells.

Purpose: As previously described, SPC/myc transgenic mice developed bronchioloalveolar adenocarcinomas derived from alveolar type II (AT II) cells within 10-14 months, whereas SPC/IgEGF transgenic mice developed hyperplasias. Our purpose was to determine the potential interplay of environmental and genetic factors in lung tumorigenesis.

Materials And Methods: Six-week-old SPC/myc and SPC/IgEGF transgenic mice, overexpressing c-myc and a secretable form of the epidermal growth factor (IgEGF) under the control of the surfactant protein C (SPC) promoter, were treated with a single dose of the tobacco carcinogen 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK). As control groups, SPC/myc and SPC/IgEGF transgenic mice were treated with NaCl and non-transgenic littermates were treated with NNK or NaCl, respectively.

Results: After 6 months, none of the NaCl-treated transgenic littermates showed bronchioloalveolar hyperplasia and adenocarcinoma formation, whereas 100% of the NNK-treated SPC/myc transgenic mice did. The effect of NNK on SPC/IgEGF transgenic mice was less pronounced, inducing hyperplasia in the lung in only 16.7% of them. In 90% of the NNK-treated non-transgenic littermates no neoplastic changes were detected in the lung.

Conclusions: These results demonstrate that the progression of pulmonary bronchioloalveolar adenocarcinomas, induced by expression of c-myc as a transgene, was accelerated by NNK, suggesting that c-myc cooperates with NNK-induced mutations.