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Ganglioside composition and histology of a spontaneous metastatic brain tumour in the VM mouse

British Journal of Cancer volume 85, pages 285–292 (2001)Cite this article

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Abstract

Glycosphingolipid abnormalities have long been implicated in tumour malignancy and metastasis. Gangliosides are a family of sialic acid-containing glycosphingolipids that modulate cell–cell and cell–matrix interactions. Histology and ganglioside composition were examined in a natural brain tumour of the VM mouse strain. The tumour is distinguished from other metastatic tumour models because it arose spontaneously and metastasizes to several organs including brain and spinal cord after subcutaneous inoculation of tumour tissue in the flank. By electron microscopy, the tumour consisted of cells (15 to 20 μm in diameter) that had slightly indented nuclei and scant cytoplasm. The presence of smooth membranes with an absence of junctional complexes was a characteristic ultrastructural feature. No positive immunostaining was found for glial or neuronal markers. The total ganglioside sialic acid content of the subcutaneously grown tumour was low (12.6 ± 0.9 μg per 100 mg dry wt n = 6 separate tumours) and about 70% of this was in the form of N-glycolylneuraminic acid. In contrast, the ganglioside content of the cultured VM tumour cells was high (248.4 ± 4.4 μg n = 3) and consisted almost exclusively of N-acetylneuraminic acid. The ganglioside pattern of the tumour grown subcutaneously was complex, while GM3, GM2, GM1, and GD1a were the major gangliosides in the cultured tumour cells. This tumour will be a useful natural model for evaluating the role of gangliosides and other glycolipids in tumour cell invasion and metastasis. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign www.bjcancer.com

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, 02467, MA, USA

    M El-Abbadi & T N Seyfried

  2. Department of Pathology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Kwangju, Korea

    M C Lee

  3. Division of Neuropathology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    A J Yates & C Orosz

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  1. M El-Abbadi
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From twelve months after its original publication, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

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El-Abbadi, M., Seyfried, T., Yates, A. et al. Ganglioside composition and histology of a spontaneous metastatic brain tumour in the VM mouse. Br J Cancer 85, 285–292 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.2001.1909

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Keywords

  • metastasis
  • cell culture
  • brain tumour
  • sialic acid
  • gangliosides
  • macrophages
  • VM mouse
  • neuraminic acid

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