An atlas of epithelial cell states and plasticity in lung adenocarcinoma. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38418883/)

These scientists wanted to understand how lung cancer develops in its early stages. To do this, they looked at a large number of individual cells from both cancerous and normal lung tissues. They found that the cancer cells had different characteristics compared to the normal cells. They discovered that a specific gene mutation called KRAS was strongly linked to the development of lung cancer.

They also found a type of cell called KRT8(+) alveolar intermediate cells (KACs) that were present in the non-cancerous areas around the lung tumors. These cells showed signs of being precancerous and were more likely to develop into cancer cells. In experiments with mice exposed to tobacco carcinogens, these KACs appeared before tumors formed and continued to exist even after the exposure to carcinogens stopped.

The scientists also found that these KACs were sensitive to a targeted treatment that inhibited the KRAS gene mutation. By labeling these cells, the scientists were able to track how they transformed into cancer cells.

Overall, this study helped the scientists gain new insights into how lung cancer develops and identified potential targets for preventing or treating the disease.

Han G., Sinjab A., Rahal Z., Lynch AM., Treekitkarnmongkol W., Liu Y., Serrano AG., Feng J., Liang K., Khan K., Lu W., Hernandez SD., Liu Y., Cao X., Dai E., Pei G., Hu J., Abaya C., Gomez-Bolanos LI., Peng F., Chen M., Parra ER., Cascone T., Sepesi B., Moghaddam SJ., Scheet P., Negrao MV., Heymach JV., Li M., Dubinett SM., Stevenson CS., Spira AE., Fujimoto J., Solis LM., Wistuba II., Chen J., Wang L., Kadara H. An atlas of epithelial cell states and plasticity in lung adenocarcinoma. Nature. 2024 Feb 28. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07113-9.