title: Low colony formation in vivo and in culture as exhibited by metastatic melanoma cells selected for reduced homotypic aggregation.
abstract: A subpopulation of cells unable to aggregate in the presence of a high concentration of asialofetuin (400 micrograms/ml) has been isolated from the murine B16-F1 melanoma cells which aggregate readily at low asialofetuin concentrations (greater than 0.3 micrograms/ml). Cells of this variant cell lines, designated B16-F1-NA, exhibited also a reduced tendency to undergo homotypic aggregation in the presence of syngeneic serum. In culture, the B16-F1-NA cells spread on solid substrate more than the B16-F1, formed more focal contacts, and proliferated at a slower exponential rate. The pattern of the major cell surface proteins and glycoproteins was similar in the parental and variant cells except for a minor glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 150,000 which was labeled more intensely on the B16-F1 than on the B16-F1-NA cells. Colony formation in semisolid medium and the development of experimental metastases in the lungs of syngeneic mice were markedly reduced in the B16-F1-NA as compared with the parental cells. It is suggested that the ability to undergo aggregation in the presence of glycoproteins is an important property of malignant cells which may influence anchorage-independent growth and the formation of metastases.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001212:Asialoglycoproteins; D002449:Cell Aggregation / Q000187:drug effects*; D002450:Cell Communication; D002455:Cell Division; D002460:Cell Line; D060748:Fetuins; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary*; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification; D051379:Mice; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000556:secondary; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D001212:Asialoglycoproteins; D060748:Fetuins; D006023:Glycoproteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; C017029:asialofetuin