Saeideh Keyvani-Ghamsari - Master of Science, Department of Biology, Science And Research Branch, Islamic AzadUniversity, Tehran, Iran
Mana Oloomi - Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
Zahra Orafa - Master of Science, Department of Molecular Biology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
Azam Salmani - Master of Science, Department of Molecular Biology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran

Cytokeratin19 (CK19) is the intermediate filament protein and describes as a marker for mammary carcinoma cells. On the other hand, breast cancer cell lines are excellent experimental models for cancer research. The purpose of this study is to investigate the expression of CK19 marker in different human breast cancer cell lines by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis.The human breast cancer cell lines MCF7, T47D, MDA-MB-231, SK-BR-3 and cervical cancer cell line (HeLa), as a negative control, were used. After extraction of RNA and proteins from cells, Extracted RNA from each cell line was analyzed for CK19 gene expression by using specific primers.Extracted proteins were analyzed by using mouse monoclonal anti-human CK19. In this study, overexpression of CK19 was detected, respectively, in MCF7, T47D and SK-BR-3 by RT-PCR. Using Western blot technique, most of CK19 expression was detected in SK-BR-3. CK19 expression was not detected in MDA-MB-231 by the two methods. Expression of CK19 could be different by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis in breast cancer celllines. CK19 expression can be related to the HER-2 and ER markers. However, regarding important role of cell lines in the investigation of cancer biology, different expression of markers in breast cancer cell lines and sensitivity of the used techniques should be more considered.

Breast Cancer, CK19, Cell Lines, RT-PCR, Western blot