Concanavalin A induced agglutinability of the isolated cells of hamster melanotic and amelanotic melanomas.

The agglutination of cells isolated from solid melanotic and amelanotic malanomas in hamsters by Concanavalin A was studied. It has been found that the agglutination intensity of the two kinds of melanoma cells was different and depended on the concentration of the lectin. It has been suggested that the different susceptibility of the cells to Concanavalin A is related to changes of surface glycoproteins, resulting from a spontaneous alteration of the melanotic melanoma into amelanotic one.