The Effect of Tunicamycin on Target Cell Susceptibility to Natural Killer Cell Cytotoxicity

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Abstract
Several sets of data indicate the possibility that carbohydrate moieties on the target cell are important structures in natural killer (NK) cell-mediated lysis. Strkining changes in the NK susceptibility of targets can be induced in several systems involving in vitro differentiation of tumour cell lines. The effect on target cells of the glycosylation inhibitor tunicamycin, which acts by blocking the dolichol-dependent asparagine-linked glvcosvlation pathway was investigated. Using several different tumour cell lines we can conclude that; (a) asparagine-linked carbohydrate chains do not contribute directly to NK susceptibility, (b) induced differentiation may or may not be linked with a change in NK susceptibility, and (c) secondary changes caused by tunicamycin treatment may lead to alterations in the gangliosides, a finding that is positvely correlated with decreased NK susceptibility.

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