Increasing evidence of the association between ribosomal protein (RP) genes with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) have been derived from findings of their differential expression patterns in NPC cell lines. Nevertheless, expression data from a comprehensive list of RP gene family members is still lacking. This paper reports the assessment of two RP genes, eL13 and eL14, with regards to their expression patterns in several NPC cell lines (TW04, TW01, HK1, HONE1 and SUNE-1) relative to a non-malignant control (NP69). A conventional Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) assay was employed. Analysis of eL13 has never been explored before this, whereas investigation of eL14 represents an extended study. We found a general over-expression trend of eL14 in 40% (2 of 5; TW01 and HONE-1) of the NPC cell lines studied, with higher upregulated level in only one (TW01) of them. However, this pattern of expression level is not statistically significant. Expression of eL13 was not detected in any of the cell lines used. The inconsistency of these expression patterns demonstrates an elusive nature of RP activities in the malignancy of the nasopharynx.
Association between the expression of ribosomal protein (RP) genes and cancer is widely known. More specifically, the extra-ribosomal functions of RPs have been linked to carcinogenesis. The ribosomal protein gene, eL14 has been reported to be associated with malignancy of the colorectum, albeit of mechanism yet unclear. Its expression in cells derived from different tissue origin of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) has never been explored. Therefore, this study aims to comparatively analyse the expression pattern of eL14 between two different CRC cell lines (DLD-1 and HCT116). It involved a conventional gene expression analysis, the Reverse-Transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) assays. Products of RT-PCR assay were resolved via an agarose gel electrophoresis method, and band intensities of amplicons were documented and quantified using TotalLab Quant software. We observed differential expression patterns of eL14 between DLD-1 and HCT116 cells, but statistical analysis revealed insignificant differences. Therefore, the relevance of eL14 as a biomarker to distinguish between different colorectal cancer cells is suggestive but not conclusive.