Correlation between cell surface oligosaccharides and tissue target-selective adhesion of two rat adenocarcinoma cell lines.

We observed that two rat colon adenocarcinoma variants originating from a single parental cell line and differing by their progressive and metastatic capacities in syngeneic BDIX rats differed by their organ distribution after intravenous injections. The PROb cells accumulated in the lung, wherefrom the REGb cells were rapidly cleared. In order to explore the role of cell surface glycoconjugates in organ-specific metastasis, cytofluorometric and histochemical studies using labelled lectins were performed. This revealed that the metastatic variant PROb presented more alpha-L-Fuc(1----2) beta D-Gal-R structures than the regressive nonmetastatic variant REGb. At variance, REGb cells exposed more D-galactosyl and N-acetyl-D-galactosaminyl residues than PROb cells. Monosacharides inhibited specifically cell adhesions on frozen organ sections. L-Fuc and N-acetyl-D-galactosamine (D-GalNAc) most strongly inhibited the adhesion of PROb cells on lungs, whereas D-Gal and D-GalNAc most strongly inhibited that of REGb cells. On the liver, adhesions of both cell lines were inhibited by D-Gal and D-GalNAc. These observations support the involvement of sugar-lectin receptors in the adhesion of these cells to the lungs or liver. The possible involvement of previously described lectins is discussed.