Comparison of mature retinal marker expression in Y79 and WERI-RB27 human retinoblastoma cell lines

doi:10.5348/ocyj-2012-2-SR-1

Short Report

Linda L Cassidy¹, Anthony Bejjani², Meerim Choi¹, Gail M Seigel³

¹Research Technician, Center for Hearing and Deafness, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA.
²Medical Student, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA.
³Principal Investigator, Center for Hearing and Deafness, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA.

Article ID: 100002OCYLLC2012
doi:10.5348/ocyj-2012-2-SR-1

Address correspondence to:
Gail M. Seigel, PhD
Center for Hearing and Deafness, University at Buffalo
3435 Main Street, Cary 137, Buffalo
NY 14214
USA
Phone: 716-829-5288
Fax: 716-829-2980
Email: gseigel@frontiernet.net

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How to cite this article:

Cassidy LL, Bejjani A, Choi M, Seigel GM. Comparison of mature retinal marker expression in Y79 and WERI-RB27 human retinoblastoma cell lines. Oncyocytology 2012;2:1–5.

Abstract


Introduction: Cancer stem cells are thought to be responsible for chemotherapy resistance in retinoblastoma and other cancers, but the lineage of retinoblastoma remains unclear. In previous work, we reported on the presence of stem cell markers in retinoblastoma cells. We hypothesized that human retinoblastoma cell lines would differentially express mature retinal markers, in addition to stem cell markers. In this report we compare the expression of the mature retinal markers CRX, recoverin, Tuj-1, PKCa and MAP2 in the most commonly studied Y79 and WERI-RB27 human retinoblastoma cell lines. Methods: RNA expression of mature retinal markers CRX, recoverin, Tuj-1, PKCa and MAP2 was measured using qPCR and protein expression was examined by quantitative immunocytochemistry. Results: Both RB cell lines expressed all mature markers tested at the protein and mRNA levels. WERI-RB27 displayed higher levels of recoverin and MAP2 expression than Y79 using immunocytochemistry. CRX, Tuj-1, and PKCa showed similar levels of protein expression between the two cell lines. qPCR analysis indicated that relative levels of recoverin expression were similar in both cell lines. MAP2 exhibited the greatest difference in RNA expression between the two cell lines, with levels in WERI-RB27 being much higher than in Y79. Conclusions: CRX, recoverin, Tuj-1, PKCa, and MAP2 mature retinal markers are all expressed at both the protein and RNA levels in WERI-RB-27 and Y79 RB cell lines. Recoverin and MAP2 showed the highest protein expression in WERI-RB27 cells. RNA expression differed from the pattern of protein expression for some markers, implying post-transcriptional modification of expression.
Key Words: Retinoblastoma, Retinal markers, Stem cells

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Author Contributions:
Linda L Cassidy - Acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting the article, critical revision of the article, Final approval of the version to be published
Anthony Bejjani - Acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, Critical revision of the article, Final approval of the version to be published
Meerim Choi - Acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, Critical revision of the article, Final approval of the version to be published
Gail M Seigel - Conception and Design, analysis and interpretation of data, Critical revision of the article, Final approval of the version to be published

Guarantor of submission:
The corresponding author is the guarantor of submission.

Source of support:
None

Conflict of interest:
Authors declare no conflict of interest.

Copyright:
© Anthony C Bejjani et al. 2012; This article is distributed the terms of Creative Commons attribution 3.0 License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any means provided the original authors and original publisher are properly credited. (Please see Copyright Policy for more information.)