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Biology, Toxicology and Carcinogenesis of Respiratory Epithelium.
364
Reviews of recent publications---Fd Chem. Toxic. Vol. 29, No. 5
This report provides a useful and timely update of the current state of play on complex carbohydrates or fibre--a term the authors hope will become obsolete. It should prove very valuable to students and research workers alike. [Corinne Rumney--BIBRA]
Biology, Toxicology and Carcinogenesis of Respiratory Epithelium. Edited by D. G. Thomassen and P. Nettesheim. Taylor and Francis (Hemisphere Publishing Co.), London, 1990. pp. xiii + 308. £39.00. ISBN 0-89116-941-5. Few editors of conference proceedings are able to achieve a similarity of quality and style of presentation throughout. This book is no exception and consists of a mixture of reviewed data and detailed experimental studies. Nevertheless, it contains some excellent material. A review paper by Hook et al. on the Clara cell--a research area of BIBRA for some years--describes recent progress towards identifying the secretory products of the cell, but concludes that the function of these proteins is not yet known. One of the roles of Clara cells is in the metabolism of foreign compounds, but a protective role against the toxic action of specific agents is much more difficult to demonstrate. The section on toxicology contains little material that is not already in the literature, describing studies on formaldehyde and inhaled diesel exhaust, responses of the respiratory epithelium to oxidant stress, and the generation of active oxygen species after in vitro exposure to asbestos fibres. Belinsky et al. describe the formation of DNA adducts and the ability of different lung cells to repair such
damage following exposure to the potent tobaccospecific nitrosamine 4-(N-methyl-N-nitrosamino)-l(3-pyridyl)-l-butanone. They conclude that proliferation of specific pulmonary cell types, which also accumulate high concentrations of DNA adducts, such as the Clara cell, could result in the fixation of promutagenic damage and increase clonal expansion of the initiated cells. The final part of the book, on carcinogenicity, contains by far the most interesting data and newest information. Many presentations deal with the role of oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes, suggesting perhaps an unusual susceptibility of bronchial tissues to develop genetic damage. You et al. discuss the high frequency of activated K-ras oncogenes found in induced lung tumours of Fischer 344 rats, and in both spontaneous and chemically induced lung tumours of strain A mice, as well as in human lung carcinomas associated with tobacco smoking. The authors suggest that the strain A mouse lung tumour model may be a very sensitive system to detect the ability of chemicals to activate the K - r a s gene in lung tissue in vivo.
Other contributions are concerned with the abnormal expression in respiratory tract malignancies of peptide hormones, growth factors and their related cellular receptors, as well as derangements of cellular signal transduction pathways. Thomassen et aL demonstrate that acquisition of resistance of rat tracheal epithelial cells to tumour growth factor may play a role in the development of neoplastic potential. Such experiments open up new opportunities to investigate as yet unexplained mechanisms of neoplastic transformation, and lead to new ways of screening putative chemical carcinogens. [Klara Miller--BIBRA]
Reviews of recent publications---Fd Chem. Toxic. Vol. 29, No. 5
This report provides a useful and timely update of the current state of play on complex carbohydrates or fibre--a term the authors hope will become obsolete. It should prove very valuable to students and research workers alike. [Corinne Rumney--BIBRA]
Biology, Toxicology and Carcinogenesis of Respiratory Epithelium. Edited by D. G. Thomassen and P. Nettesheim. Taylor and Francis (Hemisphere Publishing Co.), London, 1990. pp. xiii + 308. £39.00. ISBN 0-89116-941-5. Few editors of conference proceedings are able to achieve a similarity of quality and style of presentation throughout. This book is no exception and consists of a mixture of reviewed data and detailed experimental studies. Nevertheless, it contains some excellent material. A review paper by Hook et al. on the Clara cell--a research area of BIBRA for some years--describes recent progress towards identifying the secretory products of the cell, but concludes that the function of these proteins is not yet known. One of the roles of Clara cells is in the metabolism of foreign compounds, but a protective role against the toxic action of specific agents is much more difficult to demonstrate. The section on toxicology contains little material that is not already in the literature, describing studies on formaldehyde and inhaled diesel exhaust, responses of the respiratory epithelium to oxidant stress, and the generation of active oxygen species after in vitro exposure to asbestos fibres. Belinsky et al. describe the formation of DNA adducts and the ability of different lung cells to repair such
damage following exposure to the potent tobaccospecific nitrosamine 4-(N-methyl-N-nitrosamino)-l(3-pyridyl)-l-butanone. They conclude that proliferation of specific pulmonary cell types, which also accumulate high concentrations of DNA adducts, such as the Clara cell, could result in the fixation of promutagenic damage and increase clonal expansion of the initiated cells. The final part of the book, on carcinogenicity, contains by far the most interesting data and newest information. Many presentations deal with the role of oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes, suggesting perhaps an unusual susceptibility of bronchial tissues to develop genetic damage. You et al. discuss the high frequency of activated K-ras oncogenes found in induced lung tumours of Fischer 344 rats, and in both spontaneous and chemically induced lung tumours of strain A mice, as well as in human lung carcinomas associated with tobacco smoking. The authors suggest that the strain A mouse lung tumour model may be a very sensitive system to detect the ability of chemicals to activate the K - r a s gene in lung tissue in vivo.
Other contributions are concerned with the abnormal expression in respiratory tract malignancies of peptide hormones, growth factors and their related cellular receptors, as well as derangements of cellular signal transduction pathways. Thomassen et aL demonstrate that acquisition of resistance of rat tracheal epithelial cells to tumour growth factor may play a role in the development of neoplastic potential. Such experiments open up new opportunities to investigate as yet unexplained mechanisms of neoplastic transformation, and lead to new ways of screening putative chemical carcinogens. [Klara Miller--BIBRA]