GLYCOSAMINOGLYCANS OF NORMAL AND MALIGNANT CULTURED HUMAN MAMMARY CELLS

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 39  (3) , 870-880
Abstract
Glycosaminoglycans were characterized from a normal human brest cell line (HBL-100) and 2 different cell lines from human breast carcinoma (MDA-MG-231 and MCF-7). The glycosaminoglycans were labeled by exposure of cell cultures to [3H]glucosamine and [35S]sulfate and then isolated from both spent media and cells by pronase digestion and cetylpyridinium chloride fractionation. They were further characterized by hexosamine composition, controlled-pore glass exclusion chromatography, reactivity with specific enzymes (hyaluronidase, chondroitinase, heparitinase and heparinase), HNO didegradation and DEAE-Sephadex chromatography. The HBL-100 line synthesizes mainly hyaluronic acid, most of which is secreted into the medium. Chondroitin sulfate and heparan sulfate are the predominant glycosaminoglycans synthesized by the cancer lines; both are found mainly in the spent medium, but the hyaluronic acid synthesized by the MDA-MB-231 line remains cell associated. The cell-associated heparan sulfate had a MW > 13,000 and may contain linkages susceptible to testicular hyaluronidase. The MCF-7 cells produce significantly lower amounts of glycosaminoglycans than do the other 2 lines.