Differential Notch1 and Notch2 expression in non-small cell lung cancer

Introduction: NOTCH signaling can be deregulated in non-small cell lung cancer and can have oncogenic or tumor suppressive functions. NOTCH1 is regulated equally with NOTCH2, and the stability of the expression of those Notch receptors could determine the biological functions of lung cancer cells. Purpose: To estimate expression level of NOTCH2 receptor in diverse NSCLC cell lines. Furthermore, we compared the mRNA level of NOTCH2 expression to the level of NOTCH1 expression. Materials and methods: We have evaluated the mRNA manifestation of NOTCH1 and NOTCH2 genes by using quantitative real time method (RT-PCR). Moreover, we associated the results from NSCLC cells with results achieved in non-cancerous human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEpC). Results: The expression level of NOTCH1 and NOTCH2 was downregulated in NSCLC cell lines, when related to HBEpC. Nevertheless, the decrease in NOTCH1 expression was significant, whereas NOTCH2 was not much different from the expression in control cells. Conclusions: We conclude that NOTCH1 and NOTCH2 most likely have different biological function in NSCLC. They are active in NSCLC cell lines; nonetheless both are downregulated in lung cancer cells used in this study. Moreover, NOTCH2 expression is comparatively higher than NOTCH1 expression.