Expression of hnRNP A2/B1 proteins in human cancer cell lines.

The overexpression of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) A2/B1 is recently reported informative as a marker of lung cancer for early detection. To examine whether the expression of the proteins is specific for lung cancer, immunological analyses were performed both in lung and non-lung cancer cell lines. In immunostaining and Western blotting, the expression of A2/B1 was observed not only in the lung cancer cells but also in non-lung cancer cells. The expression of hnRNP A2/B1 is not specific for lung cancer and quantitative determination of A2/B1 is required to elucidate their significance in carcinogenesis.