Biological Function of Retinoic Acid Receptors in Bronchopulmonary System

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Purpose: In this study, the expression of retinoic acid receptor(RAR) alpha and beta was examined in order to understand the role of retinoic acid(RA) in the development and function of bronchopulmonary system.Result: RARalpha was shown to be expressed in human adult lung, and rat adult and newborn lung in Northern blot analysis. This data suggested the important role of RA and RARalpha in the development and function of bronchopulmonary system. On the other hand, the expression of RARbeta gene was not detected in human adult lung, and rat newborn and adult lung in Northern blot analysis. This data suggested the tissue-soecific expression of RARbeta gene. Expression and structural abnormality of RARbeta gene was studied in human lung cancer cell lines using RNAse protection assay, since RARbeta gene was known to be located in the short arm of chromosome 3. No expression of RARbeta gene was detected in human lung cancer cell lines. This finding suggested that the loss of the RARbeta expression could be a very important feature in the process of carcinogenesis and progression of human lung cancer.In the future, it is important show the possibility of the clinical application of the RA-RAR system by studying whether it is possible to inhibit the transformation of cells with RA and/or RAR, and whether it is possible to reverse the transformed phenotype of cancer cells with RA and/or RAR.