Expression of the Pokemon proto-oncogene in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines and tissues.

To study the differentiated expression of the proto-oncogene Pokemon in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cell lines and tissues, mRNA and protein expression levels of CNE1, CNE2, CNE3 and C666-1 were detected separately by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), real-time PCR and Western-blotting. The immortalized nasopharyngeal epithelial cell line NP69 was used as a control. The Pokemon protein expression level in biopsy specimens from chronic rhinitis patients and undifferentiated non keratinizing NPC patients was determined by Western-blotting and arranged from high to low: C666-1>CNE1>CNE2> CNE3>NP69. The Pokemon mRNA expression level was also arranged from high to low: CNE1>CNE2>NP69>C666-1>CNE3. Pokemon expression of NP69 and C666-1 obviously varied from mRNA to protein. The Pokemon protein level of NPC biopsy specimens was obviously higher than in chronic rhinitis. The data suggest that high Pokemon protein expression is closely associated with undifferentiated non-keratinizing NPC and may provide useful information for NPC molecular target therapy.