[Study on expression of Ras family gene in transformed cells induced by BPDE]

To explore the expression of Ras family gene in the malignantly transformed human bronchial epithelial cell line induced by anti-benzo(a)pyrene-trans-7,8- dihydrodiol-9,10-epoxide(BPDE).The levels of H-Ras, K-Ras and N-Ras mRNA expression in BPDE transformed 16HBE cells (16HBE-T) and untransformed control 16HBE cells (16HBE-N) were examined using RT-PCR. Expression levels of those three proteins in both kinds of cells were analyzed by western blot and immunocytochemical method.Compared with 16HBE-N, the levels of H-Ras, K-Ras and N-Ras mRNA expression were significantly increased to 2.237, 1.254 and 3.616 times in 16HBE-T, and the protein levels of those genes were increased to 1.273, 1.547 and 1.600 times, respectively. Immunocytochemical method showed expression levels of those proteins in 16HBE-T were significantly higher than those in 16HBE-N.H-Ras, K-Ras and N-Ras are overexpressed in 16HBE-T. The activation of oncogenic Ras may participate in malignant transformation of 16HBE induced by BPDE.