Gene expression profiling of G‐protein coupled receptors in human urothelial cell lines

Abstract

Urothelium contributes to the regulation of urinary bladder function and hence could be a novel drug target for bladder dysfunction. As fresh human urothelium may be difficult to obtain, urothelium‐derived cell lines may represent an alternative but they need to be validated. By Real‐time PCR array, we have compared the pattern of expression of >40 G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) in UROtsa (immortalized non‐malignant cell line used in a differentiated and non‐differentiated state), J82 (urothelium‐derived cancer cell line) and native human urothelium (obtained post‐mortem). Native urothelium expressed a wide range of GPCRs including muscarinic M2 to M5, angiotensin AT1, all subtypes of adrenergic, bradykinin, endothelin, cannabinoid, sphingosine‐1‐phosphate and tachykinin receptors. Neither UROtsa (regardless the differentiation state) nor J82 cells mimicked this expression pattern, reflecting down‐regulation or complete loss of expression of GPCRs in most cases. In conclusion, human urothelium expresses many GPCRs, indicating that multiple mechanisms could regulate urothelial function. However, use of UROtsa and J82 cells as model systems needs to be carefully validated for each specific research question.This work was supported through Coordination Theme 1 (Health) of the European Community's FP7, HEALTH‐F2‐2008‐223234.