Expression of ganglioside GM3 and H-2 antigens in clones with different metastatic and growth potentials isolated from Lewis lung carcinoma (3LL) cell line.

In view of the evidence that cell expression of gangliosides in several tumors is positively involved in the metastatic phenotype, Lewis lung carcinoma (3LL) cell line, expressing GM3 as the major ganglioside, was analysed for the cell surface expression of GM3. An indirect immunofluorescence assay, using a M2590 monoclonal antibody recognizing GM3, was used for this purpose. Since the parental 3LL cells consist of heterogenous subpopulations differing in the degrees of GM3 expression, we have developed clones of this cell line with different degrees of metastatic potentials by using an in vitro non-selective procedure in order to investigate whether the expression of GM3 is associated with metastatic potential. The degree of cell surface expression of GM3 among the clones correlated well with their total cellular content of this ganglioside. However, we were unable to confirm the report of increased level of GM3 in high metastatic 3LL clones, nor did a decreased level correlate with weak metastatic ability. In our recent work, an inhibitor of glucosylceramide synthase, D-threo-1-phenyl-2-decanoylamino-3-morpholino-1-propanol (D-PDMP), was found to decrease the levels of all cellular glucosphingolipids and cause the accumulation of the precursors of glucosylceramide. The present study does not, however, rule out the possible involvement of this lipid family in metastatic dissemination, since treatment of 3LL cells with D-PDMP resulted in significant inhibition of their experimental metastatic potential. Clones expressing very low GM3 grew slowly in culture dishes, suggesting that GM3 may have a regulatory role in cell proliferation. The low metastatic clones expressed high levels of H-2Kb antigen, while the expression of the same antigen on the high metastatic clones was relatively low, confirming the previous observation of this tumor system. Moreover, a clone showing the lowest tumorigenic potency revealed both a high cell surface expression of H-2Kb and a high H-2Kb/H-2Db ratio.