RNA-sequencing of lung tissues from Gprc5a-/- mice at baseline, end of NNK exposure, three months and seven months post-NNK

We have previously shown that Gprc5a-KO mice develop lung tumors that are accelerated by exposure to the tobacco-specific carcinogen NNK. In this study we sought to understand the temporal evolution of gene expression changes in tumors and normal-appearing tissues. We performed RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) of normal-appearing lung tissues and lugn tumors (when present) along the continuum of baseline (prior to NNK exposure), at end of NNK exposure and at three and seven months post-NNK. We separately sequenced normal-appearing tissues and tumors that were needle-dissected out from the lung. Normal-appearing tissues were analyzed alone to determine temporlaly changing gene expression profiles that denote the evolution of the airway field of injury with time during lung tumor development. We also cross-compared the temporally collected lung tumors with the matching normal-appearing lung tissues.