title: Recepteur d'Origine nantais (RON) tyrosine kinase splicing variants lacking exons 18 and 19 occur ubiquitously in lung cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Aberrant expression of RON, a MET family receptor tyrosine kinase, has been correlated to tumor growth and metastasis. Intense research efforts are on to target RON using small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors or specific antibodies. However, progress towards specific targeting of RON is hampered by a lack of understanding of the nature and number of isoforms of RON expressed by tumors. We hypothesize that formation of different isoforms via alternative splicing may be fundamental to the tumor promoting functions associated with aberrantly expressed RON in cancers.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, we analyzed the transcript sequence variations caused by alternative splicing in the C-terminal region of RON cDNA by PCR amplification and sequencing of five small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) and seven non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) cell lines.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results revealed the presence of two alternatively spliced variants, each caused by unique exon(s) deletion: a previously known transcript variant lacking exon 19 and a novel one lacking exons 18+19. The two alternatively spliced variants together with the wild-type transcript were detected in each of the 12 lung cancer cell lines analyzed. Combined loss of exons 18+19 results in an in-frame deletion of 303 nucleotides corresponding to 101 amino acids of the tyrosine kinase domain. Translation products of transcript variants lacking exons 18 and 19 are expected to dominant negatively inhibit ligand stimulated RON signaling.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ubiquitous presence of alternatively spliced transcripts and their translation products may affect quantitative expression analysis, either by immunological or PCR methods, by interfering with estimation of normal RON, leading to exaggerated values. Besides, RON isoforms with dominant negative activities may interfere with siRNA based functional analysis of wild-type RON.
authors.affiliation: Biomarkers Research Program, Department of Riyadh Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University 11451Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Prince Mutaib Chair for Biomarkers of Osteoporosis, Department of Riyadh Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University 11451Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Soundararajan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krishnaswamy
authors.affiliation: Biomarkers Research Program, Department of Riyadh Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University 11451Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Prince Mutaib Chair for Biomarkers of Osteoporosis, Department of Riyadh Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University 11451Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Abdul Khader
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Mohammed
authors.affiliation: Biomarkers Research Program, Department of Riyadh Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University 11451Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Prince Mutaib Chair for Biomarkers of Osteoporosis, Department of Riyadh Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University 11451Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Osama E
authors.initials: OE
authors.lastname: Amer
authors.affiliation: Division of Metabolic and Vascular Research, University of Warwick Coventry CV2 2DX, UK.
authors.forename: Gyanendra
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tripathi
authors.affiliation: Biomarkers Research Program, Department of Riyadh Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University 11451Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Prince Mutaib Chair for Biomarkers of Osteoporosis, Department of Riyadh Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University 11451Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Majed S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Alokail
authors.affiliation: Biomarkers Research Program, Department of Riyadh Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University 11451Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Prince Mutaib Chair for Biomarkers of Osteoporosis, Department of Riyadh Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University 11451Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Nasser M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Al-Daghri
keywords: MST1R; RON; RON isoforms; alternative splicing; macrophage stimulating protein; receptor tyrosine kinase