Modulation of bombesin-induced phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis in a small-cell lung-cancer cell line.

Bombesin is an amphibian tetradecapeptide whose mammalian homologue, gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP), is produced by many small-cell lung-cancer (SCLC) cells, and which can function in an autocrine growth-promoting manner in SCLC. Studies reported here show that [Tyr4]bombesin and its congeners increase inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate within seconds in NCI-H345, a SCLC cell line that constitutively produces GRP. After 30 min in the presence of 0.01 M-Li+ and [Tyr4]bombesin, there is marked accumulation of inositol monophosphates and inositol tetrakisphosphate. Pretreatment with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) for 20 min inhibited the ability of [Tyr4]bombesin to induce phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) turnover and to increase intracellular free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i). Pretreatment with PMA for 48 h attenuated the ability of subsequently added PMA to decrease the response to [Tyr4]bombesin. Pretreatment with pertussis toxin (PT; 1 microgram/ml for 18-24 h) decreased by less than 30% [Tyr4]bombesin-induced increases in [Ca2+]i and PtdIns metabolites. However, interpretation of this result is complicated by the inability of PT to ADP-ribosylate completely its substrates in intact NCI-H345 cells. In contrast, pretreatment with cholera toxin (1 microgram/ml for 18-24 h) lowered basal [Ca2+]i and basal inositol phosphate concentrations, attenuated the response of NCI-H345 to subsequently added [Tyr4]bombesin, and was not mimicked by treatments that increase cellular cyclic AMP. These data demonstrate the activation of phospholipase C in SCLC by bombesin congeners. In addition, the results suggest a regulatory role for protein kinase C, a cholera-toxin substrate, and perhaps a pertussis-toxin substrate in the response of SCLC to bombesin.