Lung Cancer Onset in Wild Type Mice Following Bone Marrow Reconstitution with krasv12 Cells.

A role for bone-marrow-derived cells (BMDCs) in tissue repair and malignancy onset has been proposed, but their contribution is still debated. We tested the ability of BMDCs containing the inducible kras^V12 oncogene to initiate lung adenocarcinoma. For our experimental strategy, we reconstituted lethally irradiated wild type mice with BMDCs carrying inducible kras^V12 and subsequently induced oncogene expression by 4-OHT administration. Epithelial lung lesions, from adenoma to adenocarcinomas, appeared at successive time points. These results show that lung tumors were derived from donor BMDCs and indicate a direct involvement of bone marrow cells in the development of epithelial cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]