Overexpression of MRPS18-2 in Cancer Cell Lines Results in Appearance of Multinucleated Cells.

Human mitochondrial ribosomal protein MRPS18-2 (S18-2) is encoded by a cellular gene that is located on the human chromosome 6p21.3. We discovered that overexpression of the S18-2 protein led to immortalization and de-differentiation of primary rat embryonic fibroblasts. Cells showed anchorage-independent growth pattern. Moreover, pathways characteristic for rapidly proliferating cells were upregulated then. It is possible that the S18-2 overexpression induced disturbance in cell cycle regulation. We found that overexpression of S18-2 protein in human cancer cell lines led to an appearance of multinucleated cells in the selected clones.