title: N-cadherin involvement in the heterotypic adherence of malignant T-cells to epithelia.
abstract: N-cadherin, a cell adhesion molecule normally found in neural cell tissue, has been found recently to be expressed on the surface of malignant T-cells. The function of N-cadherin on these cells remains unclear. Heterotypic assays between Molt-3 T lymphoblastic leukemia cells and Caco-2 epithelial monolayers were examined under different conditions to assess the functional role of N-cadherin. The results indicate that adherence of Molt-3 cells to Caco-2 monolayers was reduced significantly following pretreatment of Molt-3 cells with 100 microM of an N-cadherin-derived antagonist decapeptide. In contrast, pretreatment of Molt-3 cells with an anti-N-cadherin antibody raised against the first 20 amino acids of N-cadherin sequence led to a surprisingly marked enhancement of Molt-3 cell adherence to Caco-2 monolayers. In addition, the presence of anti-N-cadherin antibody neutralized the inhibitory effect of anti-ICAM-1 on Molt-3 adhesion to Caco-2 monolayers. This novel finding demonstrates that external stimulus through the N-cadherin amino terminus can modulate adhesion of malignant T-cells to epithelia and may promote their ability to invade or metastasize to inflammatory sites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, The University of Kansas, Lawrence 66047, USA.
authors.forename: Irwan T
authors.initials: IT
authors.lastname: Makagiansar
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yusuf-Makagiansar
authors.forename: Atsutoshi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ikesue
authors.forename: Anna M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Calcagno
authors.forename: Joseph S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Teruna J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Siahaan
mesh_terms: D018938:Caco-2 Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015820:Cadherins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D015458:Leukemia, T-Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism; D051176:beta Catenin
chemical_list: C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; D015820:Cadherins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051176:beta Catenin