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Regulation of ganglioside metabolism by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation.

Cell differentiation is frequently accompanied by alterations in the composition of gangliosides in the plasma membrane resulting from a regulation of the enzyme activities involved. The regulation of CMP-NeuAc:GM1 alpha2-3-sialyltransferase (ST-IV) and UDP-GalNAc:GM3 N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase (Gal-NAc-T) by the degree of enzyme phosphorylation was analyzed by determination of the enzyme activity on incubation of NG108-15 cells with various protein phosphatase inhibitors (okadaic acid and orthovanadate) or protein kinase activators (phorbol ester and forskolin). Incubation with okadaic acid, but not with orthovanadate, inhibited the ST-IV activity to 45% of that of control cells with t(1/2) = 60 min for the inactivation reaction. This indicates a rapid hyperphosphorylation of ST-IV due to the inhibition of a serine/threonine-specific phosphatase. A similar rate of inactivation was found on stimulation of protein kinase C with phorbol ester. In contrast to ST-IV, the activity of GalNAc-T was increased on stimulation of intracellular phosphorylation systems. The fastest activation of GalNAc-T was achieved with forskolin, yielding up to 160% of the initial activity within 30 min of effector incubation. Up-regulation of GalNAc-T in conjunction with down-regulation of ST-IV by stimulation of phosphorylation is suggested to serve as a physiological mechanism to increase the concentration of GM1, which was found to be elevated in correlation with the cell density. This assumption was corroborated by metabolic labeling studies with radioactive ganglioside precursors indicating an enhancement of the relative amount of a-series gangliosides subsequent to GM3 on phosphorylation stimulation. In particular, the biosynthesis of GM1 was specifically elevated within 2 h of incubation with forskolin. We conclude from the overall data that the ganglioside composition during the cell differentiation of NG108-15 cells can be specifically regulated by both protein kinase A- and protein kinase C-related phosphorylation systems.

Animals↗

Cholera toxin and cell growth: role of membrane gangliosides.

The binding of cholera toxin to three transformed mouse cell lines derived from the same parent strain, and the effects of the toxin on DNA synthesis and adenylate cyclase activity, vary in parallel with the ganglioside composition of the cells. TAL/N cells of early passage, which contain large quantities of gangliosides G(M3), G(M2), G(M1), and G(Dla), as well as the glycosyltransferases necessary for the synthesis of these gangliosides, bind the most cholera toxin and are the most sensitive to its action. TAL/N cells of later passage, which lack chemically detectable G(M1) and G(Dla) and which have no UDP-Gal:G(M2) galactosyltransferase activity, are intermediate in binding and response to the toxin. SVS AL/N cells, which lack G(M2) in addition to G(M1) and G(Dla) and which have little detectable UDP-GalNAc:G(M3)N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase activity, bind the least amount of toxin. The SVS AL/N cells are the least responsive to inhibition of DNA synthesis and stimulation of adenylate cyclase activity by cholera toxin. Gangliosides (especially G(M1)), which appear to be the natural membrane receptors for cholera toxin, may normally have important roles in the regulation of cell growth and cAMP-mediated responses.

Adenylyl Cyclases↗

Relationship of gangliosides to the structure and function of thyrotropin receptors: their absence on plasma membranes of a thyroid tumor defective in thyrotropin receptor activity.

Plasma membranes derived from rat thyroid tumor (1-8R) which is unresponsive to thyrotropin but is responsive to dibutyryl adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate bind less than 20% of the [125I] thyrotropin which can be bound to plasma membranes from normal rat thyroids under conditions which optimize tumor membrane binding relative to normal thyroid membranes. In addition, the binding is different from thyrotropin binding to normal thyroid membranes both in its altered sensitivity to changes in hydrogen ion concentration and in a decreased sensitivity to competition by unlabeled thyrotropin. This reduced capacity to bind [125I] thyrotropin cannot be attributed to degradation of the hormone by membrane-associated proteases. Although the supernatant phase of the thyroid tumor homogenates contains a soluble component which inhibits [125I] thyrotropin binding to thyrotropin receptors on plasma membranes, its level is the same as in homogenates of normal thyroid tissue. Trypsin digestion does not expose thyrotropin receptors in a manner analogous to that seen in normal thyroid tissue. The major ganglioside in the tumor membranes is N-acetylneuraminylgalactosylglucosylceramide and the membranes lack the N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase required for the synthesis of more complex gangliosides. In contrast, the normal rat thyroid membranes contain more complex gangliosides such as galactosyl-N-acetylgalactosaminyl-[N-acetylneuraminyl]-galactosylglucosylceramide and N-acetylneuraminylgalactosyl-N-acetylgalactosaminyl-[N-acetylneuraminyl]-galactosylglucosyl ceramide as well as the glycosyltransferase activities required for their syntheses. Galactosyl-N-acetylgalactosaminyl-[N-acetylneuraminyl]-galactosylglucosylceramide can also be detected in normal membranes, but not in tumor membranes, by selective labeling with galactose oxidase (D-galactose: oxygen 6-oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.3.9) and [3H] sodium borohydride. These results support the hypothesis that gangliosides are important structural or functional components of thyrotropin receptors on thyroid plasma membranes.

Animals↗

Functional incorporation of ganglioside into intact cells: induction of choleragen responsiveness.

NCTC 2071 cells are unable to synthesize the monosialoganglioside GM1. When grown in chemically defined medium these cells contained no detectable GM1 and did not accumulate 3': 5'-cyclic AMP in response to choleragen. Incubation of the cells with [3H]GM1 permitted quantification of ganglioside uptake which was dependent on time and concentration of [3H]GM1 in the medium. Responsiveness to choleragen was demonstrated with binding of as few as 17,000 molecules of [3H]GM1 per cell; a maximal response was observed with 10(5) molecules per cell. With increasing cellular content of GM1, the rate of rise in intracellular cyclic AMP in response to choleragen was increased. With greater than 1 X 10(5) molecules of GM1 per cell, the delay between addition of choleragen and the cyclic AMP response was inversely proportional to choleragen concentration; less than 250 molecules of choleragen per cell caused a significant increase in cyclic AMP after 8 hr of incubation. Although the responsiveness of intact cells to choleragen was dependent on GM1, choleragen activation of adenylate cyclase in homogenates with 0.6 mM NAD was independent of added ganglioside. These observations are consistent with the view that exogenous ganglioside GM1 can be functionally integrated into the surface membrane of intact cells and serve as the choleragen receptor. Furthermore, although exogenous GM1 is required for choleragen responsiveness in intact cells, the ganglioside does not play an obligatory role in cell homogenates, where the surface receptor can presumably be bypassed.

Adenylyl Cyclases↗

Tunicamycin blocks neuritogenesis and glucosamine labeling of gangliosides in developing cerebral neuron cultures.

Fetal cerebral neurons at the initiation of active neurite outgrowth in culture incorporate 4-fold more [3H]glucosamine into glycoproteins than into the cellular lipid fraction. After 8 days or longer, when a well-developed fiber network is apparent, lipids are labeled more extensively than the glycoproteins. Labeling of the latter is inhibited 95% and 89% by 0.5 microgram of tunicamycin per ml added to 1-day-old and 8-day-old cultures, respectively. Labeling of glycolipids is inhibited 30% in 1-day-old and 86% in 8-day-old cultures. Tunicamycin blocks incorporation of glucosamine label into practically all ganglioside species except for a resorcinol-positive, sialidase-sensitive band tentatively identified as GQ1b tetrasialoganglioside (Svennerholm ganglioside nomenclature). It also substantially reduces binding of 125I-labeled tetanus toxin to intact cells. There is 14% and 27% reduction in the total ganglioside sialic acid content in 1-day-old and 8-day-old cells treated for 24 hr with 0.5 microgram of tunicamycin per ml, but no substantial compositional changes are encountered. Tunicamycin blocks neurite outgrowth when added to cells soon after plating but causes no retraction or losses of fibers once the fiber network is established. Therefore, inhibition of neurite outgrowth by tunicamycin is not due to an effect on cellular gangliosides but can be correlated to an inhibition of protein glycosylation.

Animals↗

Serological response patterns of melanoma patients immunized with a GM2 ganglioside conjugate vaccine.

Gangliosides, such as GM2, GD2, GD3, and 9-O-acetyl GD3, are receiving attention as targets for antibody-based and vaccine-based therapies of melanoma. GM2 appears to be a particularly immunogenic ganglioside in humans, as indicated by the presence of naturally occurring IgM anti-GM2 antibodies in approximately 5% of humans and the fact that immunization with irradiated GM2-expressing melanoma cells or purified GM2 adherent to bacillus Calmette-Guérin elicits GM2 antibodies of low to moderate titers in a high proportion of vaccinated patients. To develop vaccines that consistently induce high titers of IgM as well as IgG anti-GM2 antibodies, vaccines containing GM2 conjugated to keyhole limpet hemocyanin as the carrier protein and QS-21 as the adjuvant have been constructed. The serological response of vaccinated patients was monitored by ELISA using purified GM2 ganglioside for IgM and IgG anti-GM2 antibodies and for GM2 cell surface-reactive antibodies by immune adherence assays and cytotoxic tests (IgM antibodies) and mixed hemadsorption assays (IgG antibodies). The majority of vaccinated patients developed IgM and IgG antibodies detectable by ELISA. In most cases, the results of IgM ELISA correlated with assays for cell surface-reactive IgM antibodies. This was not true for IgG anti-GM2 antibodies, where strong discrepancies were seen between high titers in ELISA and little or no reactivity in mixed hemadsorption tests for cell surface-reactive antibodies. These IgG antibodies (and the less frequent IgM antibodies that show similar discrepancies) may be directed against GM2 determinants that are buried, hidden, or not present on GM2-expressing target cells. With regard to a major objective of ganglioside vaccines--i.e., generation of cytotoxic antibodies--the GM2-keyhole limpet hemocyanin/QS-21 vaccine is clearly superior to the previously tested GM2/bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine. However, variability in patient response and lack of persistence of high-titered IgM cytotoxic antibodies in many patients are problems that remain to be solved.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗

Complex gangliosides are essential in spermatogenesis of mice: possible roles in the transport of testosterone.

Mice, homozygous for disrupted ganglioside GM2/GD2 synthase (EC 2.4. 1.94) gene and lacking all complex gangliosides, do not display any major neurologic abnormalities. Further examination of these mutant mice, however, revealed that the males were sterile and aspermatogenic. In the seminiferous tubules of the mutant mice, a number of multinuclear giant cells and vacuolated Sertoli cells were observed. The levels of testosterone in the serum of these mice were very low, although testosterone production equaled that produced in wild-type mice. Testosterone was found to be accumulated in interstitial Leydig cells, and intratesticularly injected testosterone was poorly drained in seminiferous fluid in the mutant mice. These results suggested that complex gangliosides are essential in the transport of testosterone to the seminiferous tubules and bloodstream from Leydig cells. Our results provide insights into roles of gangliosides in vivo.

Animals↗

Association of Src family tyrosine kinase Lyn with ganglioside GD3 in rat brain. Possible regulation of Lyn by glycosphingolipid in caveolae-like domains.

Association of gangliosides with specific proteins in the central nervous system was examined by co-immunoprecipitation with anti-ganglioside antibody. Protein kinase activity was detected in precipitates with monoclonal antibody to ganglioside GD3 (R24) from membranal fraction of rat brain. Using in vitro kinase assay, several phosphorylated proteins of 40, 53, 56, and 80 kDa were isolated by gel electrophoresis. Of these proteins, the proteins of 53 and 56 kDa (p53/56) were identified as two isoforms of Src family tyrosine kinase Lyn, based on co-migration during gel electrophoresis, comparative peptide mapping, and sequential immunoprecipitation with anti-Lyn antibody. The identification was confirmed using a cDNA expression system in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, which express solely ganglioside GM3, the enzymatic substrate of GD3 synthase. In co-transfection with GD3 synthase and Lyn expression plasmids, R24 immunoprecipitated Lyn and anti-Lyn antibody immunoprecipitated GD3. R24 treatment of rat primary cerebellar cultures induced Lyn activation and rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of several substrates including mitogen-activated protein kinases. Furthermore, sucrose density gradient analysis showed that Lyn of cerebellum and CHO transfectants were detected in a low density light-scattering band, i.e. the caveolae membrane fraction. R24 immunoprecipitated caveolin from Triton X-100 extract of CHO transfectants. These observations suggest that GD3 may regulate Lyn in a caveolae-like domain on brain cell membranes.

Animals↗

Neuronal sensitivity to tetanus toxin requires gangliosides.

Tetanus toxin produces spastic paralysis in situ by blocking inhibitory neurotransmitter release in the spinal cord. Although di- and trisialogangliosides bind tetanus toxin, their role as productive toxin receptors remains unclear. We examined toxin binding and action in spinal cord cell cultures grown in the presence of fumonisin B(1), an inhibitor of ganglioside synthesis. Mouse spinal cord neurons grown for 3 weeks in culture in 20 microM fumonisin B(1) develop dendrites, axons, and synaptic terminals similar to untreated neurons, even though thin layer chromatography shows a greater than 90% inhibition of ganglioside synthesis. Absence of tetanus and cholera toxin binding by toxin-horseradish peroxidase conjugates or immunofluorescence further indicates loss of mono- and polysialogangliosides. In contrast to control cultures, tetanus toxin added to fumonisin B(1)-treated cultures does not block potassium-stimulated glycine release, inhibit activity-dependent uptake of FM1-43, or abolish immunoreactivity for vesicle-associated membrane protein, the toxin substrate. Supplementing fumonisin B(1)-treated cultures with mixed brain gangliosides completely restores the ability of tetanus toxin to bind to the neuronal surface and to block neurotransmitter release. These data demonstrate that fumonisin B(1) protects against toxin-induced synaptic blockade and that gangliosides are a necessary component of the receptor mechanism for tetanus toxin.

Animals↗

b-series Ganglioside deficiency exhibits no definite changes in the neurogenesis and the sensitivity to Fas-mediated apoptosis but impairs regeneration of the lesioned hypoglossal nerve.

The polymorphic carbohydrate structures of gangliosides play regulatory roles. In particular, b-series gangliosides, all of which contain alpha-2,8 sialic acids, have been considered to be critical in various biological events such as adhesion, toxin binding, neurite extension, cell growth, and apoptosis. To clarify the physiological functions of b-series gangliosides in vivo, we have established a gene knockout mouse of GD3 synthase. Although all b-series structures were deleted in the mutant mice, they showed an almost complete nervous tissue morphology with no apparent abnormal behavior. Moreover, no differences in Fas-mediated apoptotic reaction of lymphocytes between wild type and the mutant mice were detected. However, the mutant mice exhibited clearly reduced regeneration of axotomized hypoglossal nerves compared with the wild type, suggesting that b-series gangliosides are more important in the repair rather than in the differentiation of the nervous system and apoptotic process induced via Fas.

Animals↗

Inhibition of integrin-linked kinase/protein kinase B/Akt signaling: mechanism for ganglioside-induced apoptosis.

Ganglioside GT1b inhibits keratinocyte attachment to and migration on a fibronectin matrix by binding to alpha(5)beta(1) and preventing alpha(5)beta(1) interaction with fibronectin. The role of gangliosides in triggering keratinocyte apoptosis, however, is unknown. Addition of GT1b to keratinocyte-derived SCC12 cells, grown in serum-free medium but exposed to fibronectin, suppressed Bad phosphorylation, activated caspase-9, and inhibited cyclin D and E expression, resulting in cell cycle arrest at G(1) phase and initiation of apoptosis. The mechanism of GT1b activation of caspase-9 involved inhibition of beta(1) integrin serine/threonine phosphorylation and decreased phosphorylation of both integrin-linked kinase and protein kinase B/Akt at its Ser-473 site, leading to cytochrome c release from mitochondria. Consistently, blockade of GT1b function with anti-GT1b antibody specifically activated the Ser-473 site of Akt, markedly suppressing apoptosis. The ganglioside-induced inhibition of Akt phosphorylation was GT1b-specific and was not observed when cells were treated with other keratinocyte gangliosides, including GD3. These studies suggest that the modulation of keratinocyte cell cycle and survival by GT1b is mediated by its direct interaction with alpha(5)beta(1) and resultant inhibition of the integrin/integrin-linked kinase/protein kinase B/Akt signaling pathway.

Apoptosis↗

Regulation of apoptosis during neuronal differentiation by ceramide and b-series complex gangliosides.

Lipid analysis of gestational day E14.5 mouse brain revealed elevation of ceramide to a tissue concentration that induced apoptosis when added to the medium of neuroprogenitor cells grown in cell culture. Elevation of ceramide was coincident with the first appearance of b-series complex gangliosides (BCGs). Expression of BCGs by stable transfection of murine neuroblastoma (F-11) cells with sialyltransferase-II (ST2) resulted in a 70% reduction of ceramide-induced apoptosis. This was most likely due to an 80% reduced expression of prostate apoptosis response-4 (PAR-4). PAR-4 expression and apoptosis were restored by preincubation of ST2-transfected cells with N-butyl deoxinojirimycin (NB-DNJ) or PD98059, two inhibitors of ganglioside biosynthesis or p42/44 mitogen-activated protein (MAPK) kinase, respectively. In sections of day E14.5 mouse brain, the intermediate zone showed intensive staining for complex gangliosides, but only low staining for apoptosis (TUNEL) and PAR-4. Apoptosis and PAR-4 expression, however, were elevated in the ventricular zone which only weakly stained for complex gangliosides. Whole cell patch clamping revealed a 2-fold increased calcium influx in ST2-transfected cells, the blocking of which with nifedipine restored apoptosis to the level of untransfected cells. In serum-free culture, supplementation of the medium with IGF-1 was required to maintain MAPK phosphorylation and the anti-apoptotic effect of BCG expression. BCG-enhanced calcium influx and the presence of insulin-like growth factor-1 may thus activate a cell survival mechanism that selectively protects developing neurons against ceramide-induced apoptosis by up-regulation of MAPK and reduction of PAR-4 expression.

1-Deoxynojirimycin↗

Association of the death-inducing signaling complex with microdomains after triggering through CD95/Fas. Evidence for caspase-8-ganglioside interaction in T cells.

In this investigation we show that the death-inducing signaling complex (DISC) associates with glycosphingolipid-enriched microdomains (GEM) upon CD95/Fas engagement. We primarily analyzed the ganglioside pattern and composition of GEM after triggering through CD95/Fas and observed that GM3 is the main ganglioside constituent of GEM. Stimulation with anti-CD95/Fas did not cause translocation of gangliosides within or from the GEM fraction. Scanning confocal microscopy showed that triggering through CD95/Fas induced a significant GM3-caspase-8 association, as revealed by nearly complete colocalization areas. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments demonstrated that GM3 and GM1 were immunoprecipitated by anti-caspase-8 only after triggering through CD95/Fas. This association was supported by the recruitment of caspase-8, as well as of CD95/Fas, to GEM upon CD95/Fas engagement, as revealed by the analysis of linear sucrose gradient fractions. It indicates that the DISC associates with GEM; no changes were observed in the distribution of caspase-9. The disruption of GEM by methyl-beta-cyclodextrin prevented DNA fragmentation, as well as CD95/Fas clustering on the cell surface, demonstrating a role for GEM in initiating of Fas signaling. These findings strongly suggest a role for gangliosides as structural components of the membrane multimolecular signaling complex involved in CD95/Fas receptor-mediated apoptotic pathway.

Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing↗

Identification of the sea urchin 350-kDa sperm-binding protein as a new sialic acid-binding lectin that belongs to the heat shock protein 110 family: implication of its binding to gangliosides in sperm lipid rafts in fertilization.

The 350-kDa sperm-binding protein (SBP), a species-specific sperm-binding protein, is localized in the vitelline layer of sea urchin eggs. In this study, we have shown for the first time that sperm gangliosides are ligands for the intact glycosylated SBP. Using recombinant fragments of the SBP, the N-terminal heat shock protein 110-like domain was shown to be responsible for the binding. The intact SBP could bind various gangliosides, and the binding was sialidase-sensitive and inhibited by sialyllactose, thus indicating that it is the sialic acid-binding protein. Calcium and magnesium ions were not required but they did enhance the binding activity of SBP. The observation that bacterially expressed recombinant SBP and the sialidase-treated intact glycosylated SBP lost divalent cation-dependent enhancement of binding activity suggests that the sialylated carbohydrate moieties of the SBP may be involved in this property. Furthermore, the SBP was shown to bind sperm lipid rafts, in which gangliosides are enriched, and this binding was lost upon sialidase treatment of the lipid rafts. Finally, liposomes containing the ganglioside specifically inhibited fertilization. Taken together, these results allow us to identify SBP as a member of a new class of sialic acid-binding lectin belonging to the Hsp110 family, and indicate that SBP may be involved in interaction of sperm with the vitelline layer of the egg.

Animals↗

Ganglioside GD3 traffics from the trans-Golgi network to plasma membrane by a Rab11-independent and brefeldin A-insensitive exocytic pathway.

Gangliosides, complex glycosphingolipids containing sialic acids, have been found to reside in glycosphingolipid-enriched microdomains (GEM) at the plasma membrane. They are synthesized in the lumen of the Golgi complex and appear unable to translocate from the lumenal toward the cytosolic surface of Golgi membrane to access the monomeric lipid transport. As a consequence, they can only leave the Golgi complex via the lumenal surface of transport vesicles. In this work we analyzed the exocytic transport of the disialo ganglioside GD3 from trans-Golgi network (TGN) to plasma membrane in CHO-K1 cells by immunodetection of endogenously synthesized GD3. We found that ganglioside GD3, unlike another luminal membrane-bounded lipid (glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein), did not partition into GEM domains in the Golgi complex and trafficked from TGN to plasma membrane by a brefeldin A-insensitive exocytic pathway. Moreover, a dominant negative form of Rab11, which prevents exit of vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein from the Golgi complex, did not influence the capacity of GD3 to reach the cell surface. Our results strongly support the notion that most ganglioside GD3 traffics from the TGN to the plasma membrane by a non-conventional vesicular pathway where lateral membrane segregation of vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (non-GEM resident) and glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins (GEM resident) from GD3 is required before exiting TGN.

Animals↗

Effect of ganglioside and tetraspanins in microdomains on interaction of integrins with fibroblast growth factor receptor.

The functional interaction ("cross-talk") of integrins with growth factor receptors has become increasingly clear as a basic mechanism in cell biology, defining cell growth, adhesion, and motility. However, no studies have addressed the microdomains in which such interaction takes place nor the effect of gangliosides and tetraspanins (TSPs) on such interaction. Growth of human embryonal WI38 fibroblasts is highly dependent on fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and its receptor (FGFR), stably associated with ganglioside GM3 and TSPs CD9 and CD81 in the ganglioside-enriched microdomain. Adhesion and motility of these cells are mediated by laminin-5 ((LN5) and fibronectin (FN) through alpha3beta1 and alpha5beta1 integrin receptors, respectively. When WI38 cells or its transformant VA13 cells were adhered to LN5 or FN, alpha3beta1 or alpha5beta1 were stimulated, giving rise to signaling to activate FGFR through tyrosine phosphorylation and inducing cell proliferation under serum-free conditions without FGF addition. Types and intensity of signaling during the time course differed significantly depending on the type of integrin stimulated (alpha3beta1 versus alpha5beta1), and on cell type (WI38 versus VA13). Such effect of cross-talk between integrins and FGFR was influenced strongly by the change of GM3 and TSPs. (i) GM3 depletion by P4 caused enhanced tyrosine phosphorylation of FGFR and Akt followed by MAPK activation, without significant change of ceramide level. GM3 depletion also caused enhanced co-immunoprecipitation of FGFR with alpha3/alpha5/beta1 and of these integrins with CD9/CD81. (ii) LN5- or FN-dependent proliferation of both WI38 and VA13 was strongly enhanced by GM3 depletion and by CD9/CD81 knockdown by siRNA. Thus, integrin-FGFR cross-talk is strongly influenced by GM3 and/or TSPs within the ganglioside-enriched microdomain.

Antigens, CD↗

Sialosyl Le(a)-carrying gangliosides present on the surface of colon carcinoma cells are not directly involved in adhesion to E-selectin.

We have shown previously that human colon cancer CX-1 cells contain lipid- and protein-bound sialosyl Lewis(a) structures that support the adhesion of these cells to E-selectin. Treatment of cancer cells with O-sialoglycoprotease did not decrease either the binding of anti-sialosyl Le(a) antibodies or binding to E-selectin-expressing CHO cells. This suggested that cleavage of sialomucins uncovered cryptic sialosyl Le(a) gangliosides that support such interactions. In the present study, inhibitors of glycolipid and O-glycan biosynthesis, d,l-threo-PPPP and GalNAc-alpha-O-benzyl, respectively, were used to study whether the binding of anti-sialosyl Le(a) antibody and adhesion of CX-1 cells to E-selectin can be mediated by sialosyl Le(a) gangliosides. Treatment of cancer cells with each of the inhibitors decreased the expression of the respective glycoconjugates as shown by TLC-binding assay and immunoblotting with anti-sialosyl Le(a) antibody. However, only slight differences in binding of antisialosyl Le(a) antibody to the surfaces of control and inhibitor-treated CX-1 cells were found by flow cytometry, as well no differences were observed in binding of control and inhibitor-treated CX-1 cells to E-selectin-expressing CHO cells, supporting the earlier hypothesis on the involvement of gangliosides in binding of anti-sialosyl Lewis(a) in the partial absence of mucin O-glycans. This hypothesis was further proven by electron microscopy data. Both native CX-1 and d,l-threo-PPPP-treated cells were labelled with anti-sialosyl Lewis(a) antibody mostly at a distance 70-90 nm from cell surface, suggesting interaction with protein-bound carbohydrate structures only. In contrast, the cancer cells treated with GalNAc-alpha-O-benzyl showed most of the staining around 20 nm distance from the plasmalemma, implying that the antibody interacts with lipid-bound sialosyl Lewis(a) instead. The electron microscopy data in conjunction with other results described in this report strongly support the hypothesis that sialosyl Lea gangliosides are not involved in the adhesion of CX-1 cells to E-selectin when mucins are present on the cell surface, but they may be involved in binding to E-selectin in their absence.

Animals↗

Conformations of higher gangliosides and their binding with cholera toxin - investigation by molecular modeling, molecular mechanics, and molecular dynamics.

Molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics studies are performed to investigate the conformational preference of cell surface higher gangliosides (GT1A and GT1B) and their interaction with Cholera Toxin. The water mediated hydrogen bonding network exists between sugar residues in gangliosides. An integrated molecular modeling, molecular mechanics, and molecular dynamics calculation of cholera toxin complexed with GT1A and GT1B reveal that, the active site of cholera toxin can accommodate these higher gangliosides. Direct and water mediated hydrogen bonding interactions stabilize these binding modes and play an essential role in defining the order of specificity for different higher ganglioside towards cholera toxin. This study identifies that the binding site of cholera toxin is shallow and can accommodate a maximum of two NeuNAc residues. The NeuNAc binding site of cholera toxin may be crucial for the design of inhibitors that can prevent the infection of cholera.

Binding Sites↗