Gene expression profiling of normal lung cells and K-RasG12V driven hyperplasias

We aimed to analyze the transcriptional profile of lung epithelial cells early after the expression of a resident K-RasG12V oncogene. This approach was based on the rationale that valuable therapeutic targets should be easier to detect in the first stages of tumor development due to tumor heterogeneity which occurr at late stages. We used a GEM model of lung adenocarcinoma driven by a resident K-RasG12V oncogene. In this GEM, the K-RasG12V allele also expresses a color marker that allows identification of K-RasG12V expressing cells at the single cell level in tissue sections. Thanks to this strategy we isolated early K-RasG12V-driven hyperplastic lesions (about 500 cells) and analyzed their gene expression profiling by Affymetrix GeneChip hybridization. Normal cells were isolated accordingly by LCM in the same lung sections.