ganglioside--gd1a and Neuroblastoma

Previous reports indicated the presence of both gangliosides and sialidase in the nuclear envelope (NE) of primary neurons and the NG108-15 neural cell line. GM1, one of the major gangliosides of this membrane, was shown to be tightly associated with a sodium-calcium exchanger in the inner membrane of the NE and to potentiate exchanger activity. GD1a was the other major ganglioside detected in the NE and, like GM1, occurs in both inner and outer membranes. A subsequent report indicated the presence of sialidase activity in the NE without specification as to which of the two membranes express it. The present study was undertaken to determine the nature and locus of this activity within the NE of two cell lines: NG108-15 and SH-SY5Y. Western blot analysis of the separated membranes revealed occurrence of Neu3 in the inner membrane and Neu1 in the outer membrane of the NE. Moreover, sialidase activity at both sites was shown capable of catalyzing conversion of endogenous GD1a to GM1.

Topics: Animals; Antibodies; Antibody Specificity; Blotting, Western; Cell Line, Tumor; Gangliosides; Glioma; Humans; Hybrid Cells; Hydrolysis; Immunohistochemistry; Isoenzymes; Neuraminidase; Neuroblastoma; Nuclear Envelope; Rodentia; Substrate Specificity

The inhibitory action of gangliosides GT1B, GD1A, GM3 and GM1 on cell proliferation and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) phosphorylation was determined in the N-myc amplified human neuroblastoma cell line NBL-W. The IC50 of each ganglioside was estimated from concentration-response regressions generated by incubating NBL-W cells with incremental concentrations (5-1000 microm) of GT1B, GD1A, GM3 or GM1 for 4 days. Cell proliferation was quantitatively determined by a colourimetric assay using tetrazolium dye and spectrophotometric analysis, and EGFR phosphorylation by densitometry of Western blots. All gangliosides assayed, with the exception of GM1, inhibited NBL-W cell proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner. The IC50s for gangliosides GT1B [molecular weight (MW) 2129], GM3 (MW 1236), and GD1A (MW 1838) were (mean +/- SEM) 117 +/- 26, 255 +/- 29, and 425 +/- 44 m, respectively. In contrast, the IC50 for GM1 (MW 1547) could not be determined. Incubation of NBL-W cells with epidermal growth factor (EGF) concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 1000 ng/ml progressively increased cell proliferation rate, but it plateaued at concentrations above 10 ng/ml. EGFR tyrosine phosphorylation, however, was incrementally stimulated by EGF concentrations from 1 to 100 ng/ml. The suppression of EGF-induced EGFR phosphorylation differed for each ganglioside, and their respective inhibitory potencies were as follows: EGFR phosphorylation [area under curve (+ EGF)/area under curve (- EGF)]: control (no ganglioside added) = 8.2; GM1 = 8.3; GD1A = 6.7; GM3 = 4.87, and GT1B = 4.09. The lower the ratio, the greater the inhibitory activity of the ganglioside. Gangliosides GD1A and GT1B, which have terminal N-acetyl neuraminic acid moieties, as well as one and two N-acetyl neuraminic acid residues linked to the internal galactose, respectively, both inhibited cell proliferation and EGFR phosphorylation. However, GD1A was a more potent suppressor of cell proliferation and GT1B most effective against EGFR phosphorylation. GM3, which only has a terminal N-acetyl neuraminic acid, inhibited cell proliferation and EGFR phosphorylation almost equivalently. These data suggest that gangliosides differ in their potency as inhibitors of NBL-W neuroblastoma cell proliferation and EGFR tyrosine phosphorylation, and that perturbations in the differential expression of membrane glycosphingolipids may play a role in modulating neuroblastoma growth.

Topics: Animals; Carbohydrate Sequence; Cell Division; Dogs; Epidermal Growth Factor; ErbB Receptors; G(M1) Ganglioside; G(M3) Ganglioside; Gangliosides; Humans; Molecular Sequence Data; Neuroblastoma; Phosphorylation; Structure-Activity Relationship; Tumor Cells, Cultured; Tyrosine

The orientation of the catalytic site of a ganglioside-specific sialidase in the plasma membrane of SK-N-MC neuroblastoma cells was probed using water-soluble GD1a-neoganglioprotein substrate on intact cells and GM1-product detection by cholera toxin B. Desialylation of substrate was readily observed, whereas specific sialidase inhibitors prevented the reaction, and conditioned medium was inactive. Inhibitors of endocytosis and acidification had no effect on substrate degradation, and lowering temperature to 18 degrees C reduced activity but did not abolish it. We conclude that the ganglioside sialidase activity is cell surface-orientated and displays an in situ specificity that mirrors enzyme preparations in vitro.

Topics: Catalytic Domain; Cell Membrane; Cholera Toxin; Culture Media, Conditioned; Enzyme Activation; Enzyme Inhibitors; Extracellular Space; G(M3) Ganglioside; Gangliosides; Glycoproteins; Humans; Neuraminidase; Neuroblastoma; Substrate Specificity; Temperature; Tumor Cells, Cultured

Prosaposin has been recently identified as a neurotrophic factor eliciting differentiation in neuronal cultured cells (NS20Y). In this paper we investigate whether prosaposin and its active peptide (prosaptide) may modify the ganglioside pattern in neuroblastoma cells. The analysis by high performance thin layer chromatography did not reveal qualitative changes in the ganglioside pattern of NS20Y cells incubated in the presence of prosaposin, compared to control cells, but it did reveal an increase of the content of all three major resorcinol positive bands (GM3, GM2, GD1a). Cytofluorimetric and immunofluorescence microscopic analysis revealed that the increase of the ganglioside content was at the plasma membrane level. These findings suggest that the neurotrophic activity of prosaposin on NS20Y neuroblastoma cells might be mediated in part by the increase of cell surface gangliosides.

Topics: Animals; Cell Line; Cell Membrane; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Chromatography, Thin Layer; Flow Cytometry; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; G(M2) Ganglioside; G(M3) Ganglioside; Gangliosides; Glycoproteins; Membrane Lipids; Mice; Nerve Growth Factors; Neuroblastoma; Protein Precursors; Saposins; Tumor Cells, Cultured

The enzymatic basis for ganglioside regulation during differentiation of NG108-15 mouse neuroblastoma x rat glioma hybrid cells was studied. This cell line contains four gangliosides that lie along the same biosynthetic pathway: GM3, GM2, GM1, and GD1a. Chemically induced neuronal differentiation of NG108-15 cells led to an 80% drop in the steady-state level of their major ganglioside, GM3, a sixfold increase in the level of a minor ganglioside, GM2 (which became the predominant ganglioside of differentiated cells); and relatively little change in the levels of GM1 and GD1a, which lie further along the same biosynthetic pathway. The enzymatic basis for this selective change in ganglioside expression was investigated by measuring the activity of two glycosyltransferases involved in ganglioside biosynthesis. UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine: GM3 N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase (GM2-synthetase) activity increased fivefold during butyrate-induced differentiation, whereas UDP-galactose: GM2 galactosyltransferase (GM1-synthetase) activity decreased to 10% of its control level. Coordinate regulation of these two glycosyltransferases appears to be primarily responsible for the selective increase of GM2 expression during NG108-15 differentiation.

Topics: Alprostadil; Animals; Bucladesine; Cell Differentiation; G(M1) Ganglioside; G(M2) Ganglioside; G(M3) Ganglioside; Galactosyltransferases; Ganglioside Galactosyltransferase; Gangliosides; Glioma; Hybrid Cells; Kinetics; Mass Spectrometry; Mice; N-Acetylgalactosaminyltransferases; Neuroblastoma; Polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase; Rats; Theophylline; Tumor Cells, Cultured

The oligosaccharide portion of ganglioside GM1 was found to enhance neuritogenesis by S20Y murine neuroblastoma cells grown in vitro. The average length of the neurites produced by cells grown in the presence of the oligosaccharide portion of GM1 was comparable to that of cells grown in the presence of intact GM1. The processes of these cells were significantly longer (p less than 0.005, pooled t test) than those of cells grown in the presence of comparable concentrations of sialic acid, lactose, sialyllactose, GD1a, or the oligosaccharide moiety of GD1a. These results suggest that it is the oligosaccharide portion of GM1 that is responsible for the ability of GM1 to enhance process outgrowth by S20Y neuroblastoma cells.

Topics: Animals; Axons; Cholera Toxin; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Chromatography, Thin Layer; G(M1) Ganglioside; Gangliosides; Mice; Neuroblastoma; Oligosaccharides; Resorcinols; Tumor Cells, Cultured

An abnormal circulating ganglioside was found in patients with neuroblastoma. This ganglioside appeared as a single band by resorcinol-HCl staining of thin-layer chromatograms of purified total gangliosides isolated from as little as 1 ml of patient plasma. It is a major ganglioside of neuroblastoma tumour tissue and was present (250-1500 pmol lipid-bound sialic acid/ml) in the plasma of five patients with widespread neuroblastoma. In contrast, the ganglioside was not detected (less than 50 pmol/ml) in plasma samples of six patients in complete remission, nor in plasma samples of seventeen healthy children and adults. Measurement of this circulating tumour-associated ganglioside should be clinically useful in neuroblastoma, offering a new approach to the detection of tumour and the evaluation of therapy.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Child; Child, Preschool; Chromatography, Thin Layer; Female; G(M1) Ganglioside; G(M3) Ganglioside; Gangliosides; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neuroblastoma

Individual ganglioside species (possessing the gangliotetrose oligosaccharide) were purified from bovine brain gray matter and applied in varying concentrations to the culture medium of mouse neuroblastoma cells (N2A) in vitro. After 48 hr of incubation, the cells were stained, and the neuritogenic response quantitated with a video analysis system, employing a program to measure three parameters of neuroblastoma differentiation: neurites per cell (sprouting), neurite length (extension), and degree of neurite branching (arborization). All the individual gangliosides tested promoted neurite extension in a dose-dependent fashion. Asialogangliosides ("neutral" glycosphingolipids) were without effect, which suggests that sialic acid (N-acetylneuraminic acid) is necessary to elicit this cellular response. With increasing concentrations of GM1 (5 to 500 micrograms/ml), the average cellular neurite length increased significantly, whereas the number of neurites per cell decreased. With the trisialoganglioside GT1b, neurite length did not increase to the extent seen with GM1, but an increase in the number of neurites per cell (sprouting) and branch points per neurite (arborization) was observed. These results suggest that the in vitro neuronal response to exogenous gangliosides may combine specific responses to individual species making up the total.

Topics: Animals; Cell Line; G(M1) Ganglioside; Gangliosides; Glycosphingolipids; Mice; Neuroblastoma; Neurons

The effects of exogenous GM1 and GD1a on S20Y murine neuroblastoma cells were assessed by monitoring morphology, tumorigenicity, mitotic index, and plating efficiency. S20Y cells were seeded at a density equivalent to 5 X 10(4) cells per 35-mm tissue culture dish; 38-42 hr after seeding (preconfluent stage) the cells were treated for 12 hr with 100 micrograms of ganglioside per ml of medium in which the serum content was reduced from 10% to 0.5%. Analysis of the cell lipids indicated that added ganglioside became tightly associated with the membrane during the 12-hr exposure. GM1 treatment resulted in increased projections on the cell surface and fine structures projecting from the cell processes. GD1a treatment resulted in a reduction in the cellular mitotic index. Plating efficiency was reduced by both GM1 and GD1a. Neither ganglioside affected tumorigenicity of the S20Y cells. Twelve hours after removal of the added ganglioside and exposure of the cells to normal medium, the ganglioside composition of the membranes from treated cells approached that of the controls, and the ganglioside-induced effects had been reversed. These results suggest that addition of specific gangliosides induces different cellular responses and that these changes are dependent upon the continued presence of the ganglioside.

Topics: Animals; Brain Chemistry; Cell Division; Clone Cells; Female; G(M1) Ganglioside; Gangliosides; Growth; Humans; Mice; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Middle Aged; Neuroblastoma; Neurons

The novel effects of gangliosides from human brain on the number of nuclei of nerve cells and neurite outgrowth were studied in cultures of human neuroblastoma cell lines GOTO and NB-1. Ganglioside GQ1b at a nanomolar level stimulated cell proliferation and neurite outgrowth during culture for 24 hours, as reported previously [J Biochem 94: 303-306, 1983]. Although the neurite promoting activity of GQ1b was similar to those of total human brain gangliosides (GS) and nerve growth factor (NGF), its activity on cell proliferation did not persist on longer culture; that is, the number of GQ1b-treated cells rapidly decreased to the control level during culture for 48 or 72 hours. In contrast, on treatment with GS or NGF, the number of cell nuclei increased continuously during prolonged culture. These results showed that either some other molecular species of ganglioside(s) than GQ1b or other substances such as proteins present in the GS fraction were responsible for the long-term activity. Studies on the GS fraction after its treatment with proteases and neuraminidases revealed that ganglioside GD1a (20 ng/ml) had the ability to prolong the activity of GQ1b. Namely, GQ1b and GD1a gangliosides cooperated in maintaining the number of nuclei in long-term cultures of neuroblastoma cell lines.

Topics: Cell Differentiation; Cell Division; Cell Line; Cell Nucleus; Gangliosides; Humans; Nerve Growth Factors; Neuroblastoma; Neurons