Aberrant glycosylation of E-cadherin enhances cell-cell binding to suppress metastasis.
Introduction of the beta1-4 N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (GnT-III) gene was reported to suppress metastasis in highly metastatic B16-hm murine melanoma cells (Yoshimura, M., Nishikawa, A. , Ihara, Y., Taniguchi, S., and Taniguchi, N.(1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 92, 8754-8758). In this study, the effect of GnT-III gene transfer on E-cadherin was studied, since E-cadherin acts as a suppressor of metastasis. E-cadherin expression at cell-cell contacts of B16-hm cells expressing high GnT-III activity was greater than controls without affecting transcription. Lectin blotting showed that E-cadherin from GnT-III transfectants was glycosylated by ectopically expressed GnT-III. The glycosylated E-cadherin exhibited the delayed turnover and the decreased release from cell surface, as compared with the native E-cadherin, resulting in the elevated expression at the cell-cell border of GnT-III transfectants. Furthermore, cell-cell aggregation was enhanced in GnT-III transfectants, indicating that the glycosylated E-cadherin is biologically functional. These results suggest that the glycosylated E-cadherin contributes to the suppression of metastasis by the introduction of GnT-III gene into melanoma cells.
Yoshimura
M
M
Department of Biochemistry and the Second Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka University Medical School, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565, Japan.
Ihara
Y
Y
Matsuzawa
Y
Y
Taniguchi
N
N
D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002449:Cell Aggregation / Q000502:physiology*; D006031:Glycosylation; D008546:Melanoma, Experimental / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000556:secondary*; D051379:Mice; D017351:N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D015820:Cadherins; D017351:N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases; C054599:beta-1,4-mannosyl-glycoprotein beta-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase