Transformation-dependent quantitative changes in glycopeptide binding to concanavalin A-sepharose.

Differentially L-fucose-labelled glycopeptides from the surface of a Syrian golden hamster (SGH) fetal lung control cell line were compared with those from chemically-transformed and tumour cell lines derived from the control line by cochromatography on Concanavalin A-Sepharose (Con A-Sepharose) and Sephadex G-50. Quantitative differences were found both in the unbound and specifically-bound fractions between control and transformed cells upon Con A-Sepharose chromatography. In the glycopeptides from transformed and tumour cells, the unretarded fraction was concomitantly decreased compared to the controls. When the ratio of unbound to specifically-bound fractions was used, a statistically significant difference could be calculated between the values of control versus transformed or tumour cells. In all transformed and tumour cell lines investigated, the quantitative change in Concanavalin A binding, expressed as an increase of the ratio of unretarded to specifically-bound glycopeptides, was paralleled by a shift of transformed or tumour glycopeptides to higher apparent molecular weight compared to the control in gel chromatography.