EXPRESSION OF INTEGRIN MOLECULE IN UROLOGICAL TUMOR CELL LINES BY USING RT-PCR METHOD

Intergrins are heterodimer molecule that are composed of one α subunit and one β subunit. Integrins appear to be the major receptors by which cells attach to extracellular matrices, and some integrins also mediate important cell-cell adhesion event. In recent years signaling pathway via β subunit of integrin molecule has been clarified, and 8 kinds of integrin β subunit are known to exist. And so we investigated the expression of integrin β subunit in various urological tumor cell lines by using RT-PCR method. Materials are composed of 8 renal cell carcinoma cell lines, 2 urinary bladder carcinoma cell lines, a testicular tumor cell line and a prostate tumor cell line. All 12 cell lines express integrin β1 subunit. The expression rate of β4 subunit in renal cell carcinoma lines are lower than that in other urological tumor cell lines. The expression of β6 subunit was observed in renal cell carcinoma cell lines and testicular tumor line. In testicular tumor cell line we also found the expression of β2 subunit which expression had been believed to be specific in leukocyte.