MELK and small cell lung carcinoma: To assess the MELK expression levels in SCLC, we performed immunoblot analyses using 11 human SCLC cell lines (six adherent cells and five suspension cells) and 2 normal fetal lung fibroblasts (NFLF) cell lines, and found that MELK protein was highly expressed in the majority of both adherent and suspension SCLC cell lines; whereas it was expressed in 2 NFLF normal counterparts at very low levels (Figure 1A and 1B).