Characterization of CFTR expression in a human pulmonary mucoepidermoid carcinoma cell line, NCI-H292 cells.

The NCI-H292 cell, a human pulmonary mucoepidermoid carcinoma cell line, is commonly used for studying bacterial and viral infections of airway epithelial cells. Dysfunction of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is the main cause of fetal lung infection in cystic fibrosis patients. In this study, we examined CFTR expression in NCI-H292 cells to determine whether NCI-H292 cells possess sufficient, normally functioning CFTR. The results of RT-PCR and Northern blotting analysis indicated that the CFTR gene expression level was much lower in NCI-H292 cells than in T84 cells. However, Western blotting analysis showed that protein expression in NCI-H292 cells was comparable to that in T84 cells. Furthermore, whole-cell and cell-attached patch clamp electrophysiological techniques indicated that the Cl- current induced by intracellular cAMP elevation in NCI-H292 cells was comparable to that in T84 cells. These findings suggest that NCI-H292 cells with a low level of CFTR gene expression possess enough functional CFTR to show a physiological response.