High mobility group nucleosomal-binding domain 2 (
HMGN2) is an abundant non-
histone nuclear protein of vertebrates and invertebrates. The aim of the present study was to characterize the endogenous expression of
HMGN2 in various types of
tumor cell. Western blotting was performed to analyze
HMGN2 expression in the following tumor cell lines: H1975, HSC-4, MDA-MB-468, MDA-MB-231, SCC-25 and THP-1. Periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs) were included as a noncancerous control.
HMGN2 was detected in human
oral squamous cell carcinoma tissues by immunohistochemical analysis. The results demonstrated that the expression of
HMGN2 was increased in the majority of tumor cell lines, particularly MDA-MB-468 and THP-1 cells, compared with PDLCs. The expression of
HMGN2 in
oral squamous cell carcinoma tissue was significantly increased compared with the expression in normal tissue. Furthermore, the expression of
HMGN2 in metastatic
oral squamous cell carcinoma tissues was increased compared with that in its non-metastatic counterpart. These results indicated that
HMGN2 may serve an important function in the growth and
metastasis of
tumor cells.