Adhesive activity of gicerin, a cell-adhesion molecule, in kidneys and nephroblastomas of chickens.

Gicerin, a cell-adhesion molecule belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily, has both homophilic and heterophilic binding activities to neurite outgrowth factor, an extracellular matrix molecule in the laminin family. Gicerin is thought to play a role in the normal development of chicken kidney, because it is expressed abundantly in the embryonic organ and only slightly in the mature organ. In this study, we have examined the adhesive activity of gicerin in the kidney to characterize its function in organogenesis. We have also examined the function of gicerin in chicken nephroblastomas ("embryonic nephromas"), which show various structures resembling those in embryonic kidneys. Immunohistochemically, the expression patterns of gicerin and neurite outgrowth factor in nephroblastomas are similar to those of embryonic kidneys. Cell-aggregation assays have shown that primary culture cells from both embryonic kidneys and nephroblastomas have strong aggregation activities, and that each aggregation is partially inhibited by gicerin antibody. In contrast, cells from adult kidney exhibit weak aggregation activity that is not inhibited by the antibody. In addition, ligand blot analysis has revealed that gicerins in embryonic kidney and nephroblastoma bind to purified neurite outgrowth factor, whereas extracts from adult kidney show no positive reaction. These findings suggest that the homophilic and heterophilic adhesive activities of gicerin are involved in the formation of both normal kidney and nephroblastoma.