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M De Mets

Publications and source records attributed to M De Mets.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

Effect of glycosylation inhibitors on N-glycosylpeptides and on invasion of malignant mouse MO4 cells in vitro.

Cell surface glycans are believed to play a role in tumour invasion and metastasis. Yet, we have previously shown that the inhibitors of N-linked glycan processing swainsonine (SW) and 1-deoxynojirimycin (dNM) did not prevent invasion of chick heart fragments by MO4 murine fibrosarcoma cells in organ culture. We now present biochemical evidence that these and other inhibitors of processing were indeed effective in remodeling glycans, including those expressed at the cell surface. After metabolic labeling with tritiated mannose or fucose, glycosylpeptides were obtained by Pronase treatment of material released from intact cells by trypsin. Glycosylpeptides were separated by Biogel P-10 chromatography. With all drugs tested, there was a shift towards lower molecular weight of the glycan chains. There were, however, major quantitative differences between the different drugs and also, for monensin (MON; 0.1 microgram ml-1), between fucose-labeled and mannose-labeled chains. The shift in apparent molecular weight affected mainly fucose-labeled peptides after treatment of MO4 cells with SW (0.4 microgram ml-1). The shift induced by dNM (10 mM) + SW (0.4 microgram ml-1) in both fucosylated and mannosylated chains was much larger than that induced by SW given alone. 1-Deoxymannojirimycin (dMM; 1 mM) had major effects on both mannose and fucose-labeled structures and so did N-methyl-1-deoxynojirimycin (MdNM; 2 mM) and castanospermine (CS; 100 micrograms ml-1). With the latter drugs, incorporation of fucose in complex-type glycosylpeptides was dramatically reduced. The effect of SW on fucose-labeled glycosylpeptides of embryonic chick heart was similar to that observed on MO4 cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

1-Deoxynojirimycin↗

Anti-invasive activities of experimental chemotherapeutic agents.

We have discussed a number of agents that affect invasion and we have grouped them according to their most probable targets. This strategy is based on the following hypothesis. Invasion is the result of cellular responses to extracellular signals. Candidate signals are components of the extracellular matrix, which are rendered inactive by the flavonoid (+)-catechin (see Section III). Signals are recognized by receptors on the plasma membrane, possibly glycoproteins, that may lose their recognition function through alteration of the oligosaccharide side chains by inhibitors of protein glycosylation (see Section IV) and possibly also by alkyllysophospholipids (see Section V). Synthetic oligopeptides reflecting sequences from cell-binding domains of extracellular matrix molecules are also effective tools for blocking specific receptors (see Section VI). GTP-binding proteins (G proteins) act as signal transducers and can be inactivated by pertussis toxin (see Section VII). An intriguing aspect of both alkyllysophospholipids and pertussis toxin is that they can either inhibit the invasion of constitutively invasive cells or induce invasion of constitutively noninvasive cells. Without doubt, cellular responses implicated in invasion are many-fold. Discussed here are cell motility and directional migration with inhibition through dipyridamole and its analogs and through microtubule inhibitors, respectively (see Section VIII). Alternative hypotheses and alternative strategies for the dissection of the invasion process do exist, and alternative cellular and molecular mechanisms of action may explain the anti-invasive activity of the agents discussed earlier. The latter are mentioned in each section. It is the authors' opinion that the possibilities for exploiting the battery of anti-invasive agents have by no means been exhausted. Introducing researchers to experiments that may lead to an understanding of the mechanisms of invasion and metastasis and to new rationales for cancer treatment has been the purpose of our review.

Animals↗

Confrontation of an invasive (MO4) and a noninvasive (MDCK) cell line with embryonic chick heart fragments in serum-free culture media.

Confronting cultures of precultured embryonic chick heart fragments (PHF) with aggregates of malignant cells in vitro have been shown to be relevant for a number of aspects of tumor invasion in vivo. Preculture of the heart fragments, formation of cell aggregates, and subsequent culture of confronting pairs have so far been done only in serum-containing culture media. We describe here confronting cultures of PHF with invasive MO4 mouse cell aggregates or noninvasive MDCK dog kidney cell aggregates in serum-free media. Heart fragments precultured in the absence of serum seemed to be necrotic after confronting culture in serum-free media. However, preculturing in media supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum allowed us to do subsequent confronting cultures in absence of serum. Cell aggregates were also prepared in serum-containing medium. MO4 cells occupied and replaced the heart tissue within 4 d, whereas MDCK cells remained at the periphery of the PHF. This indicates that serum-free confronting cultures can discriminate between invasive and noninvasive cells. The viability of individual PHF and cell aggregates cultured in the same way as in confrontations was ascertained by histology and by explantation and postculturing on a solid tissue culture substrate. Growth of the cultures was smaller in serum-free media than in media supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. The main advantage of serum-free culture conditions in vitro is the elimination of the influence of serum components on invasion, and the ability to examine the effect on invasion of drugs that are susceptible to inactivation by serum.

Animals↗

Altered glycosylation in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells after transformation by murine sarcoma virus.

The changes in glycosylation of an immortalized epithelial cell line (MDCK) before and after progression towards a more malignant phenotype have been studied. The parental MDCK-3 cells were immortalized after long-term passage in vitro and have shown no tendency for spontaneous acquisition of malignancy-related phenotypes such as tumorigenicity, invasion and metastasis. They conserved morphological and functional characteristics of the epithelial tissue of origin. The ras-MDCK cells acquired the fully malignant phenotype after transformation with a Harvey murine sarcoma virus; they were immortalized, invasive in vitro and produced invasive and also metastatic tumors after subcutaneous injection into nude mice. Using immobilized lectins and gel chromatography, before and after liberation of O-linked glycans from the peptide moieties and also after removal of terminal sialic acid, we have found differences in the glycosylpeptides of both whole cells and cell surface trypsinates from ras-MDCK cultures as compared to the parental MDCK-3 cultures: (i) more sialic acid in the N-linked tri- and tetra-antennary structures; (ii) more fucosylation in the N-glycosylpeptides; (iii) more bi-antennary N-glycosylpeptides and less O-linked glycans; and (iv) a lower molecular weight of the O-linked glycans probably due to a decreased sialylation. It is concluded that alterations in sialylation and fucosylation of the cell surface exposed glycans accompanied progression of MDCK-3 cells towards a more malignant phenotype.

Animals↗

Restored invasion of mouse MO4 cells into chick heart in vitro through mutual conditioning at reduced temperature.

Invasion of malignant mouse MO4 cells into embryonic chick heart fragments in confronting organ cultures was arrested for 7 days when the temperature of incubation was lowered to 28 degrees C. Afterwards invasion resumed and progression between days 10 and 17 at 28 degrees C was comparable to that between days 0 and 7 at 37 degrees C. This pattern of progression of MO4 cell invasion at 28 degrees C was unaltered when either MO4 cells or heart fragments or both were preincubated separately at 28 degrees C for 14 days before confrontation with each other. Invasion at 28 degrees C resumed only when MO4 cells and heart tissue had been in immediate contact for at least 7 days. Metabolic labelling with [3H]fucose showed a correlation in time between transient suppression of invasion and transient inhibition of incorporation of fucosylation-precursor molecules into glycoproteins by MO4 cells. The latter activity was far less temperature-sensitive in heart cells. Our observations suggest that metabolic cooperation between invading MO4 cells and heart tissue is essential for progression of invasion in vitro.

Animals↗