Induction of the fundic mucosa-specific glycolipid with dimethylformamide in gastric-cancer cell lines

✍ Scribed by Taeko Dohi; Miyuki Nakasuji; Mieko Oshima

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 460 KB
• Volume: 53
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.2910530125

✦ Synopsis

We have previously reported that a glycolipid GalNAcp I -4[NeuAcc~2-3]Galp I -4GlcNAcp I -3Galp I -4Glc-Cer named NGM-I is present specifically in the human gastric fundic mucosa, but not in other organs. In gastric-cancer tissue and cancer cell lines, this glycolipid completely disappears. These findings imply that NGM-I is expressed only in well-differentiated fundic mucosa. The purpose of this study is to examine the expression of NGM-I as a differentiation-related molecule. A gastric cell line AZ52 I was cultured in the medium with various reagents which had been reported to induce differentiation in cancer cells. The growth of AZ52I was suppressed by the addition of 0.8% dimethylformamide (DMF) to the medium, but not by addition of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), retinoic acid or butyric acid. In the ganglioside fraction of the cells cultured with DMF. a glycolipid regarded as NGM-I which had not been present before treatment was detected using a monoclonal antibody. Suppression of the proliferation of AZ52 I by eliminating the serum from the medium could not induce the expression of NGM-I. A colonic cell line treated with DMF also failed to express the glycolipid. The synthase activity of NGM-I was elevated in the AZ52I cells treated with DMF, but not with DMSO. These results demonstrate that the expression of NGM-I is induced by DMF specifically in gastric-cancer cells, and suggest the possibility that NGM-I is a differentiationrelated molecule.