Hyaluronic acid binding capacity of malignant glioma cells.

The mechanisms underlying the rapid invasive growth of malignant gliomas are poorly understood. Adhesion to extracellular hyaluronic acid (HA) has been implicated in the invasive properties of tumor cells. We investigated the HA binding capacity of human (T98G, A172, U87MG, 86HG39, 85HG66) and rat (C6, 9L) glioma cell lines by means of HA coated, bovine serum albumin (BSA)-blocked (HA/BSA) and only BSA-blocked culture plates. Results were compared with adhesion to native wells (100% adhesion). Adhesion to HA/BSA was high for T98G (84.4%), medium for 86HG39 (36%), 9L (33.1%), A172 (35.5%) and low for 85HG66 (21.3%) and U87MG (26.8%). Adhesion to only BSA-coated wells was significantly lower in all these cell lines, suggesting a specific HA-adhesion. Only C6 showed similar adhesion to HA/BSA and BSA alone, therefore, C6 failed to bind HA specifically. These results suggest that adhesion to extracellular HA might be involved in the invasion of some gliomas.