title: Glycosaminoglycans of normal and malignant cultured human mammary cells.
abstract: Glycosaminoglycans have been characterized from a normal human breast cell line (HBL-100) and two different cell lines from human breast carcinoma (MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7). The glycosaminoglycans were labeled by exposure of cell cultures to [3H]glucosamine and [35S]sulfate and then isolated from both spent media and cells by pronase digestion and cetylpyridinium chloride fractionation. They were further characterized by (a) hexosamine composition, (b) controlled-pore glass exclusion chromatography, (c) reactivity with specific enzymes (hyaluronidase chondroitinase, heparitinase, and heparinase), (d) nitrous acid degradation, and (e) DEAD-Sephadex chromatography. The results indicate that the HBL-100 line synthesizes mainly hyaluronic acid, most of which is secreted into the medium. Chondroitin sulfate and heparan sulfate are the predominant glycosaminoglycans synthesized by the cancer lines; both are found mainly in the spent medium, but the hyaluronic acid synthesized by the MDA-MB-231 line remains cell associated. The cell-associated heparan sulfate had a molecular weight in excess of 13,000 and may contain linkages susceptible to testicular hyaluronidase. The MCF-7 cells produce significantly lower amounts of glycosaminoglycans than do the other two lines.
mesh_terms: D001940:Breast / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002460:Cell Line; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates / Q000096:biosynthesis; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006497:Heparan Sulfate / Q000096:biosynthesis; D006801:Humans; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000096:biosynthesis; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans; D006497:Heparan Sulfate; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid