title: Multifaceted role of galectin-3 on human glioblastoma cell motility.
abstract: Astrocytic tumors' aggressiveness results from an imbalance between cell proliferation and cell death favoring growth, but also from the propensity of tumor cells to detach from the primary tumor site, migrate, and invade the surrounding parenchyma. Astrocytic tumor progression is known to be associated with an increased expression of galectin-3. We investigated in cell culture how galectin-3 expression affects astrocytoma cell motility. Galectin-3 deficient cells were obtained by stable transfection of the U373 glioblastoma cell line with a specific expression antisense plasmid. Cultured galectin-3 deficient glioblastoma cells showed increased motility potential on laminin and modifications in the cytoskeleton reorganization. In addition, c-DNA microarrays and quantitative immunofluorescence analysis showed that galectin-3 deficient U373 cells have an increased expression of integrins-alpha6 and -beta1, proteins known to be implicated in the regulation of cell adhesion.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Histology, Faculty of Medicine, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Debray
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vereecken
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Belot
authors.forename: Peggy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Teillard
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Brion
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pandolfo
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pochet
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement; D037502:Galectin 3 / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D037502:Galectin 3; D011994:Recombinant Proteins