Sialyltransferase levels and ganglioside expression in melanoma and other cultured human cancer cells.

Human melanoma cells express high levels of GM3 and GD3 gangliosides whereas normal melanocytes have only low levels of GD3 but maintain their expression of GM3. In order to understand the basis for this difference, the levels of the sialyltransferase that converts GM3 to GD3 (CMP-N-acetylneuraminic acid:GM3 sialyltransferase or GD3 synthase, EC 2.4.99.8) were analyzed in melanoma and other cell lines. Enzyme levels were determined in vitro using membrane preparations and measuring the addition of [14C]-N-acetylneuraminic acid from CMP-[14C]-N-acetylneuraminic acid to GM3 in the presence of Triton CF-54. Sialyltransferase levels in 44 human cancer cell lines (including melanoma, neuroblastoma, astrocytoma, various carcinomas, and leukemias) and cultures of normal melanocytes and kidney epithelial cells were compared, and the products were identified by thin layer chromatography and fluorography. Melanoma cell lines exhibited the highest levels of incorporation and GD3 was found to be the major product. GM3 was also formed, apparently from endogenous lactosylceramide. Very low levels of GD3 synthase were found in normal melanocytes. Neuroblastoma and some astrocytoma cell lines also had significant levels of GD3 synthase. Some other cell lines incorporated high levels of radioactivity but the products did not correspond to GD3 and the major product was usually GM3. In general the levels of GD3 synthase correlated with the expression of GD3 in the various cell types. These results point to higher levels of GD3 synthase being directly responsible for the enhanced expression of GD3 in melanoma.

Cell surface accessibility of individual gangliosides in malignant melanoma cells to antibodies is influenced by the total ganglioside composition of the cells.

The reactivity of a panel of antiganglioside monoclonal antibodies with a number of melanoma cell lines having different ganglioside composition profiles was studied. One cell line synthesized only GM3, one produced both GM3 and GD2, 2 had GM3 and GD3 as their major gangliosides, and 2 others synthesized approximately equal amounts of GM3, GM2, GD3, and GD2 gangliosides. Antibody reactivity with viable cells was analyzed by: (a) flow cytometry on suspension cells; and (b) mixed hemagglutination assays or immune adherence assays on monolayer cells in culture. GM3 was efficiently detected only in the cell line having GM3 as its sole ganglioside. In the other cell lines, GM3 was difficult to detect even in cells in which it made up a high proportion (up to 50%) of the total ganglioside content. GM2 was easily detectable only in JB-RH melanoma cells (which contain only GM3 and GM2). GD3 was the most reactive ganglioside in 2 cell lines and GD2 in 2 other lines. In general, the most complex ganglioside present in a cell was the one most accessible to antibody. The differential exposure at the cell surface of specific gangliosides may have implications for antibody-directed tumor detection and therapy and for cell-protein or cell-cell interactions that involve glycolipids.

Biochemical analysis of a human epithelial surface antigen: differential cell expression and processing.

Epithelial surface antigen (ESA) is a glycoprotein with a distribution in vivo that is largely confined to human epithelial cells. Previous studies using a mouse monoclonal antibody (MH99) detecting ESA had shown that the antigen immunoprecipitated from most epithelial cancer cell lines has two chains (38,000 and 32,000 Da) when separated under reducing conditions and only one (38,000 Da) under nonreducing conditions. We now show that the 38-kDa band observed under nonreducing conditions consists of two species, one a 38-kDa single chain protein and the other a disulfide-linked dimer consisting of the 32-kDa chain bonded to a previously unrecognized 6-kDa chain. Pulse-chase studies have shown that ESA is synthesized as a 34-kDa protein which is glycosylated to a 38-kDa glycoprotein containing both high mannose and complex carbohydrate chains. With longer chase periods, a 32-kDa species also appears. Peptide mapping, together with the pulse-chase data, suggests that the 32- and 6-kDa species are formed from the 38-kDa protein, probably by limited proteolysis. Epithelial cell lines differ in their ratios of 38/32-kDa species, some cell lines having only the 38-kDa form. Incubation of radiolabeled extracts of cells having only the 38-kDa protein with unlabeled extracts of the other cell types resulted in progressive conversion of the 38-kDa species to the 32- and 6-kDa forms. Only cell lines expressing both forms of ESA are able to carry out this cleavage of the 38-kDa protein. This is a novel mechanism for generating cell-type related differences in cell surface glycoprotein expression. Finally, sequential immunoprecipitation experiments showed that the antigen detected by Ab MH99 is closely related or identical to that detected by Ab 17-1A, a previously described colon cancer antigen.

The addition of exogenous gangliosides to cultured human cells results in the cell type-specific expression of novel surface antigens by a biosynthetic process.

After the observation that human mAb 32-27M reacts only with melanoma and astrocytoma cells cultured in the presence of fetal bovine serum, a novel pathway for the uptake of exogenous gangliosides, their further biosynthesis, and expression at the cell surface as novel Ag has been elucidated. The addition of fetal bovine serum to melanoma and astrocytoma cells growing in synthetic medium (insulin-transferrin-selenium) resulted in reactivity with Ab32-27M. As antibody 32-27M detects N-glycolylneuraminic acid (NeuGc)-containing gangliosides, the effect of adding a number of different gangliosides to melanoma and astrocytoma cells cultured in the synthetic medium was studied. Only the addition of NeuGc-GM3 resulted in the development of Ab32-27M reactivity. The identity of the antigenic structures developed after addition of fetal bovine serum or NeuGc-GM3 was determined by analysis of the gangliosides from both samples. The major component detected in melanoma cell lines was shown to be N-acetylneuraminic acid-NeuGc-GD3. Another, slower moving component, present in some melanomas and in astrocytomas may be N-acetylneuraminic acid-NeuGc-GD2. The cell type specificity for these processes can be most readily explained by postulating that all cells can take up exogenous gangliosides but only melanoma and astrocytoma cells have sufficiently high levels of GM3 alpha 2----8-sialyltransferase for the conversion of added NeuGc-GM3 to disialogangliosides to be effective. These results demonstrate a novel pathway for exogenous glycolipid processing that can lead to novel Ag expression but may also play a role in normal glycolipid metabolism and function.