Immunocytochemical localization of the surfactant apoprotein and Clara cell antigen in chemically induced and naturally occurring pulmonary neoplasms of mice

The localization of surfactant apoprotein (SAP) and the Clara cell antigen(s) (CCA) was studied in naturally occurring and experimentally induced pulmonary hyperplasias and neoplasms by avidin-biotin peroxidase complex (ABC) immunocytochemistry. Lungs of B6C3F1 and A strain mice with naturally occurring lesions, B6C3F1 mice given injections of N-nitrosodiethylamine (DEN), BALB/c nu/nu or nu/+ mice exposed transplacentally on Day 16 of gestation to ethylnitrosourea (ENU), or BALB/c nu/+ mice exposed to ENU at 8-12 weeks of age were preserved in formalin or Bouin's fixative. After ABC immunocytochemistry, SAP was found in the cytoplasm of normal alveolar Type II cells; in the majority of cells in focal alveolar and solid hyperplasias originating in peribronchiolar or peripheral locations; and in solid, tubular, papillary, and mixed adenomas and carcinomas. The larger mixed-pattern neoplasms and small or large tubular neoplasms usually had the least number of cells with SAP. The majority of large papillary adenomas and carcinomas in BALB/c mice exposed to ENU and in untreated A strain mice contained SAP in the nuclei of many neoplastic cells but only in the cytoplasm of a few neoplastic cells. CCA was found in normal Clara cells of bronchi and bronchioles but not in any hyperplastic or neoplastic lesion of any mouse studied. This study provided immunocytochemical evidence that the vast majority of naturally occurring and experimentally induced pulmonary neoplasms of mice are alveolar Type II cell adenomas and carcinomas.