Expression Pattern of Major Poly C Binding Protein (Pcbp) Isoforms in Cancer Cell Lines of Cervix, Melanoma and Muscle

Abstract

Poly (C) binding proteins (PCBPs) are members of sequence specific RNA binding protein family with conserved KH domain. There are four identified isoforms such as Pcbp1 or α-CP1 (α-Complex proteins), Pcbp2 or α-CP2, Pcbp3 or α-CP3 and Pcbp4 or α-CP4. Among them Pcbp1 and Pcbp2 are the most studied and found to be associated with various cellular functions such as transcriptional regulations, translational regulations and mRNA stability. Although two proteins share extensive similarity, they differ in function and localization. Pcbp1 has role in tumorigenesis, and metastasis, which are key phenomena of cancer. Role of pcbp2 has been well documented in the biology of RNA virus, namely translation and replication. Here, we studied expression pattern of Pcbp1 and Pcbp2 in three different cancer cell lines namely HeLa, RD, and A375 originated from different tissues. The results indicate not only differential abundance of these two proteins in three cell lines, but also discordant expression of pcbp1 in mRNA and protein level in three cell lines. The study therefore suggests post-transcriptional regulation of pcbp1 expression in these cell lines.