Cell Adhcsion and Carbohydrate Structure of Colon Cancer Cell Line KM12C and Subpopulation

Lee, Bong Hwa; Kim, Young Sik

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Oligosaccharide chains of the glycoprotein are attached to protein through O-glycosidic or N-glycosidic linkages. The aim of this experiment is to evaluate the effect of structural changes of cell surface glycoprotein for cell adhesion in parental colon cancer cell line and in its metastatic subpopulation.
METHODS
The colon cancer cell line KM12C (parental cell) and its liver metastatic cell lines (KM12SM and KM12L4A) were grown until the cell lines were 50% confluent. The cells were grown for another 48 hours in the presence of each inhibitors of glycosylation and sialylation. Cell-matrix adhesion and cell-cell adhesion was analyzed with adhesion assay and aggregation assay, respectively.
RESULTS
The inhibition of O-linked glycosylation by Benzyl- alpha-GalNac had more cell-matrix adhesion in metastatic cell lines than in parental cell lines. The inhibition of N-linked glycosylation by tunicamycin did not show significant effects on both cell-matrix adhesion and cell-cell adhesion. The inhibition of sialylation by NM8110 increased cell-matrix adhesion in parental cell lines. In metastatic cell lines, the inhibition with low concen- tration of NM8110 increased cell-matrix adhesion, while the inhibition with high concentration of NM8110 decreased the cell-matrix adhesion. The metastatic cell lines showed less cell-cell adhesion than parental cell lines.
CONCLUSIONS
The glycoprotcins such as cancer mucin which has short chains of oligosaccharide (sialic acid or O-linked glycosylation) may modify the adhesion with matrix.