The Effect of Nuclear and Cytoplasmic hnRNPA2B1 Isoforms on the Proliferation and Migration of Breast Cancer Cells
Abstract
Breast cancer has the second highest mortality rate among diagnosed malignant tumors worldwide. It can arise from many mechanisms at the molecular level like splicing, which is the transformation of pre-mRNA to mature mRNA. The process of splicing involves splicing factors which are proteins; one of them is hnRNPA2B1. Previous research shows that high levels of hnRNPA2B1 correlate with one feature of breast cancer: high rates of cell growth. However, for another feature, namely, metastasis or migration of cancer cells from the primary site to a secondary site such as the lungs, the reports are contradictory, with some showing positive while others show negative correlation between ex-pression of hnRNPA2B1 and metastasis. The hnRNPA2B1 protein has two forms (called isoforms) that are generated by a process called alternative splicing. One isoform is a protein that localizes in the nucleus of cells, while the other localizes to the cytoplasm. Since previous research did not differentiate between the nuclear vs. cytoplasmic protein, we investigate the effect of each isoform of hnRNPA2B1 on both breast cancer cell growth and migration. Our results show that the cytoplasmic hnRNPA2B1 causes reduced cell proliferation and cell migration of breast cancer cells.
Keywords: hnRNPA2B1, Migration, Breast Cancer, Nuclear Isoforms, Cytoplasmic Isoforms, proliferation