Background: Programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4), a protein that binds to eukaryotic initiation factor 4A (eIF4A), inhibits the initiation of translation. Although a number of tumor suppressors target transcription, Pdcd4 is the first suppressor targeting protein translation, and has also been suggested to function as a tumor suppressor gene in human cancer. The majority of tumor suppressors are mutationally inactivated, but the expression of Pdcd4 is downregulated with progression in a number of human cancer sites, including the lung.
Methods: An aerosol of lentivirus-shRNA Pdcd4 was delivered into A/J mice, through a nose-only inhalation system twice a week for 1 month.
Results and conclusions: Downregulated Pdcd4 resulted in increase levels of antiapoptotic and uPA-regulated proteins. We also found that downregulated Pdcd4 induced the mTOR/p70S6K pathway and cell-cycle proteins. Our results suggest that Pdcd4 may perform a critical function in the regulation of lung cancer cell proliferation.