Constitutive and inducible nuclear factor-κB in immortalized normal human bronchial epithelial and non-small cell lung cancer cell lines

Constitutive activation of the proinflammatory nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) transcription factor p65^RelA/p50 has been implicated in many cancers, including leukemias, lymphomas, and several solid tumors, including lung cancer. In many cases, constitutive NF-κB activation can be recapitulated in cell lines isolated from these cancers. To test whether this is the case with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines, we investigated the basal levels of NF-κB proteins, their subcellular distribution, their DNA-binding activities, and the expression of NF-κB-responsive genes in 10 NSCLC cell lines. The immortalized human bronchial epithelial cell line BEAS-2B served as a normal control. We found little evidence of substantial constitutive NF-κB activation in NSCLC cell lines, although most all of the normal and NSCLC cells possessed inducible NF-κB. Our findings provide a resource for the use of particular NSCLC cell lines for the investigation of constitutive and inducible NF-κB activity in vitro.