To investigate Ago2 expression in breast cancer, cell lines representing the four common molecular subtypes: T47D (Luminal A), BT-474 (Luminal B), SK-BR-3 (HER2 positive), BT-20 (Basal/Triple negative), and one non-cancer non-tumourigenic control breast epithelial cell line (MCF-10A) were profiled. The cell lines were assayed for Ago2 mRNA expression (Additional file
1: Figure S1A). T47D (Luminal A) was found to express Ago2 mRNA at significantly higher levels than either the SK-BR-3 (HER2 positive) or BT-20 (Triple Negative) cell lines (Anova
p = 0.005). To further characterize Ago2 expression, the levels of Ago2 protein in a panel of subtype representative breast cancer cell lines was profiled (Fig.
1a). In agreement with the mRNA levels, the BT-20 line displayed distinctly lower total Ago2 protein expression than the other cell lines (MCF-10A, T47D, BT-474, SK-BR-3). Interestingly, only the SKBR-3 cell line displayed disagreement between the low mRNA and high protein expression levels indicating the presence of a highly stable Ago2 protein in these cells. In addition to profiling the total levels of Ago2, localisation of Ago2 protein in the breast cancer cell lines was explored. According to the Human Protein Atlas Ago2 localises predominantly to the nucleus and cell-cell junctions in 3 distinct cancer types, with breast cancer localisation unknown [
9,
25‐
27]. Investigating Ago2 protein intensity and localisation using IHC in breast cancer cell lines, overall all breast cancer cell lines displayed stronger Ago2 staining, compared to MCF-10A (with very weak staining) (Fig.
1b, Additional file
1: Figure S1B). The Luminal cell lines (T47-D and BT-474) displayed predominantly cytoplasmic Ago2 staining, of low-moderate intensity. The SK-BR3 (HER2 positive) and BT-20 (Triple Negative) cell lines displayed stronger cytoplasmic Ago2 staining (Fig.
1b). Intriguingly, the BT-474, SK-BR-3 and BT-20 lines displayed a sub-population with strong nuclear staining Fig.
1b). Ago2 localisation was explored further using the more sensitive immunofluorescent staining method. In non-dividing cells Ago2 was observed to stain almost exclusively in the cytoplasm in the control MCF10A cells. In non-dividing breast cancer lines there was strong cytoplasmic staining, with additional nuclear staining observed (Additional file
1: Figure S2). Surprisingly, we observed Ago2 localizing to the midbody of dividing cells in MCF10A, T47D, BT-474 and SK-BR-3 (but not in the basal line BT-20: images shown representative of 20 observed mitotics for each cell line), a localisation not previously observed before (Fig.
1c).