Expression of ron tyrosin kinase receptor on breast cancer cell lines

Abstract

This study focuses on the RON receptor expression in two breast cancer cell lines using three methods of detections. RON is one member of the MET family of receptor tyrosine kinases. When it is activated by its own ligand, macrophage stimulating protein (MSP), RON initiates a downstream signaling pathways which result of some function in the cell such as dissociation, migration, and invasion. Several RON variants that arise through mRNA splicing or by an alternate translational start site have been identified, some with oncogenic potential. The purpose of the present project was to determine the expression of RON receptor in the two breast cancer cell lines since it is the most common distribution cancer in women around the world. MDA-MB-213 and MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines and WRL-68 embryonic liver as a normal cell line was used in this experiment to characterize the expression. The expression of RON receptor on the cell surface, the concentration of mRNA and the RON protein were done by utilizing Immunofluorescent staining (IF), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) respectively. Collectively, it was found that RON receptor was overexpressed in these two breast cancer cell lines comparing to the normal cell lines.