PATTERN OF MUCIN GENE-EXPRESSION IN NORMAL AND NEOPLASTIC LUNG TISSUES

This work evaluates the expression in lung cancer of the most well cha racterized mucin genes (MUC1, MUC2, MUC3) and of the recently describe d MUC4 in lung tissues, to check a correlation between the expression of any particular gene and this tumor. Hybridization with synthetic ol igonucleotides obtained from a part of the sequences of MUC1, MUC2, MU C3 and MUC4, was performed on blotted RNA from 18 lung cancer tissue s pecimens and from 10 normal tissues samples taken when possible, from the normal lung counterpart. By means of Northern blot analysis MUC1 r evealed to be the most expressed mucin gene in lung cancer, followed b y MUC4; by contrast, the expression of MUC2 and MUC3 was almost undete ctable in all cancer specimens. The intensity of expression of MUC1 an d MUC4 was always superior in cancer tissue than in the normal counter part. As expected, the highest reactivity for MUC1 and MUC4 expression was observed mainly in the adenocarcinoma histotype which is mucin se creting. These findings represent a contribution to the study of mucin gene pattern in lung cancer, and in particular, indicate that MUC4, i n association with the MUC1 gene, seems to be strongly expressed in th is neoplastic disease.