Abstract
Biologically active membrane gangliosides, expressed and released by many human tumors, are hypothesized to significantly impact tumor progression. Lack of a model of complete and specific tumor ganglioside depletion in vivo, however, has hampered elucidation of their role. Here, we report the creation of a novel, stable, genetically induced tumor cell system resulting in specific and complete blockade of ganglioside synthesis. Wild-type (WT) and GM3 synthase/GM2 synthase double knockout (DKO) murine embryonic fibroblasts were transformed using amphotropic retrovirus-transduced oncogenes (pBABE-c-MycT58A+H-RasG12V). The transformed cells, WTt and DKOt respectively, evidenced comparable integrated copy numbers and oncogene expression. Ganglioside synthesis was completely blocked in the DKOt cells, importantly without triggering an alternate pathway of ganglioside synthesis. Ganglioside depletion (to <0.5 nmol/107 cells from 9 to 11 nmol/107 WTt or untransfected normal fibroblasts) did not adversely affect cell proliferation kinetics but did reduce cell migration on fibronectin-coated wells, consistent with our previous observations in ganglioside-depleted normal human fibroblasts. Strikingly, despite similar oncogene expression and growth kinetics, DKOt cells evidenced significantly impaired tumor growth in syngeneic immunocompetent mice, underscoring the pivotal role of tumor cell gangliosides and providing an ideal system for probing their mechanisms of action in vivo.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Rick Proia for the GM3S mice. This work was supported by NIH grants CA61010 and CA42361 to SL, CA64472 to VN, and GM62116 to the Consortium for Functional Glycomics.
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Liu, Y., Yan, S., Wondimu, A. et al. Ganglioside synthase knockout in oncogene-transformed fibroblasts depletes gangliosides and impairs tumor growth. Oncogene 29, 3297–3306 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2010.85
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2010.85
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