In order to examine the metabolic effects of mutant Ras in cells relevant to human cancer, we obtained normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells that had been sequentially immortalized and transformed using the telomerase catalytic subunit (hT), SV40 large T antigen (LT) and an oncogenic allele of ras (H-RasV12) [16]. The gene discussed is LTA; the disease is cancer.