This is a new project, begun in July 2009. Recently, a necessary change in personnel occurred because of the departure of the research fellow previously working on this project. Since the last reporting, we have determined the expression pattern of EMT activation in a select panel of human lung cancer cells and in normal lung cells. We have found that transiently altering EMT associated transcriptional factors may not be sufficient to allow examination of phenotypic changes. Thus, our current efforts are directed at producing stable expression lung cancer cell clones with altered EMT transcription factors for further analysis. In these stable expression clones, we intend to augment expression of pro-EMT transcription factors in cancer cells showing low baseline expression and determine whether characteristics associated with metastatic cancer cells are enhanced as a result of stimulated EMT activation. Conversely, in other cell clones, we will alternatively knock-down expression of EMT factors in cancer cells expressing a high baseline level in order to reverse their degree of metastatic potential. We are currently actively synthesizing the transduction constructs necessary to create these stable cancer cell clones. Additional correlative experimental studies will be performed, as results dictate, to better elucidate the mechanisms controlling these processes in lung cancer cells.
