SNU-5 Cells

The SNU-5 cell line is a human gastric carcinoma model established from a metastatic lesion. It has been characterized for its molecular abnormalities, particularly those involving the p53 tumor suppressor gene. Studies show that SNU-5 exhibits a deletion of the p53 gene transcript, as determined by the absence of p53 mRNA in Northern blot analyses. This loss was further supported by RNase protection assays and sequencing, which revealed that SNU-5 lacks detectable mutations in the coding regions but fails to express the transcript altogether, indicating a possible regulatory or epigenetic mechanism of gene silencing rather than a structural mutation.

Proteomic analyses have provided deeper insights into the molecular characteristics of SNU-5. Large-scale studies have included SNU-5 among a panel of cancer cell lines used to map the human cancer cell line proteome. In this context, SNU-5 contributes to datasets integrating mass spectrometry-based quantification of thousands of proteins. These proteomic datasets have been correlated with transcriptomic, genomic, and phenotypic profiles, offering a comprehensive view of protein expression, post-transcriptional regulation, and drug response characteristics. Such datasets position SNU-5 as a valuable model for investigating gastric cancer biology, especially in the context of metastatic disease and p53 pathway dysregulation.