Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1988 May;85(9):2999–3003. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.9.2999

Reexpression of poly(sialic acid) units of the neural cell adhesion molecule in Wilms tumor.

J Roth 1, C Zuber 1, P Wagner 1, D J Taatjes 1, C Weisgerber 1, P U Heitz 1, C Goridis 1, D Bitter-Suermann 1
PMCID: PMC280130  PMID: 2834727

Abstract

A unique structural feature of the neural cell adhesion molecule N-CAM is the presence of homopolymers of alpha (2----8)-linked sialic acid units. We have used two specific probes for the detection of poly(sialic acid) in normal human kidney and Wilms tumor: a monoclonal antibody against meningococci group B capsular polysaccharide (homopolymers of alpha (2----8)-linked sialic acid units), which shows no crossreactivity with polynucleotides and denaturated DNA, and bacteriophage-induced endosialidases specifically hydrolyzing alpha (2----8)-linked poly(sialic acid) units. Additionally, for the detection of N-CAM, antibodies recognizing the polypeptide portion of the molecule and biotinylated antisense RNA transcribed from a cDNA clone for N-CAM were applied. Poly(sialic acid) was regionally detectable in human embryonic kidney but undetectable in normal adult kidney, as already reported for rat kidney. The malignant Wilms tumor, which is characterized by the presence of structural components resembling those found in embryonic kidney, reexpressed poly(sialic acid) units and showed positive immunostaining for the polypeptide portion of N-CAM. Immunoblot analysis of Wilms tumor as well as human embryonic kidney and brain with the monoclonal anti-poly(sialic acid) antibody revealed in each case the same high molecular mass broad band. In situ hybridization demonstrated the presence of mRNA for N-CAM in Wilms tumor. We conclude that poly(sialic acid), most probably present on N-CAM, is an oncodevelopmental antigen in human kidney.

Full text

PDF

Images in this article

3000Image
on p.3000
3001Image
on p.3001
3002Image
on p.3002
3002Image
on p.3002
3002Image
on p.3002

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Binder M., Tourmente S., Roth J., Renaud M., Gehring W. J. In situ hybridization at the electron microscope level: localization of transcripts on ultrathin sections of Lowicryl K4M-embedded tissue using biotinylated probes and protein A-gold complexes. J Cell Biol. 1986 May;102(5):1646–1653. doi: 10.1083/jcb.102.5.1646. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Covault J., Merlie J. P., Goridis C., Sanes J. R. Molecular forms of N-CAM and its RNA in developing and denervated skeletal muscle. J Cell Biol. 1986 Mar;102(3):731–739. doi: 10.1083/jcb.102.3.731. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Covault J., Sanes J. R. Distribution of N-CAM in synaptic and extrasynaptic portions of developing and adult skeletal muscle. J Cell Biol. 1986 Mar;102(3):716–730. doi: 10.1083/jcb.102.3.716. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Edelman G. M. Cell adhesion molecules. Science. 1983 Feb 4;219(4584):450–457. doi: 10.1126/science.6823544. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Feizi T. Demonstration by monoclonal antibodies that carbohydrate structures of glycoproteins and glycolipids are onco-developmental antigens. Nature. 1985 Mar 7;314(6006):53–57. doi: 10.1038/314053a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Finne J., Bitter-Suermann D., Goridis C., Finne U. An IgG monoclonal antibody to group B meningococci cross-reacts with developmentally regulated polysialic acid units of glycoproteins in neural and extraneural tissues. J Immunol. 1987 Jun 15;138(12):4402–4407. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Finne J., Finne U., Deagostini-Bazin H., Goridis C. Occurrence of alpha 2-8 linked polysialosyl units in a neural cell adhesion molecule. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1983 Apr 29;112(2):482–487. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(83)91490-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Finne J., Mäkelä P. H. Cleavage of the polysialosyl units of brain glycoproteins by a bacteriophage endosialidase. Involvement of a long oligosaccharide segment in molecular interactions of polysialic acid. J Biol Chem. 1985 Jan 25;260(2):1265–1270. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Finne J. Occurrence of unique polysialosyl carbohydrate units in glycoproteins of developing brain. J Biol Chem. 1982 Oct 25;257(20):11966–11970. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Frosch M., Görgen I., Boulnois G. J., Timmis K. N., Bitter-Suermann D. NZB mouse system for production of monoclonal antibodies to weak bacterial antigens: isolation of an IgG antibody to the polysaccharide capsules of Escherichia coli K1 and group B meningococci. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Feb;82(4):1194–1198. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.4.1194. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Fukuda M. Cell surface glycoconjugates as onco-differentiation markers in hematopoietic cells. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1985;780(2):119–150. doi: 10.1016/0304-419x(84)90002-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Goridis C., Hirn M., Santoni M. J., Gennarini G., Deagostini-Bazin H., Jordan B. R., Kiefer M., Steinmetz M. Isolation of mouse N-CAM-related cDNA: detection and cloning using monoclonal antibodies. EMBO J. 1985 Mar;4(3):631–635. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03676.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hoffman S., Edelman G. M. Kinetics of homophilic binding by embryonic and adult forms of the neural cell adhesion molecule. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Sep;80(18):5762–5766. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.18.5762. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Kabat E. A., Nickerson K. G., Liao J., Grossbard L., Osserman E. F., Glickman E., Chess L., Robbins J. B., Schneerson R., Yang Y. H. A human monoclonal macroglobulin with specificity for alpha(2----8)-linked poly-N-acetyl neuraminic acid, the capsular polysaccharide of group B meningococci and Escherichia coli K1, which crossreacts with polynucleotides and with denatured DNA. J Exp Med. 1986 Aug 1;164(2):642–654. doi: 10.1084/jem.164.2.642. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Miller R. L., Collawn J. F., Jr, Fish W. W. Purification and macromolecular properties of a sialic acid-specific lectin from the slug Limax flavus. J Biol Chem. 1982 Jul 10;257(13):7574–7580. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Nicolson G. L. Cancer metastasis. Organ colonization and the cell-surface properties of malignant cells. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1982 Dec 21;695(2):113–176. doi: 10.1016/0304-419x(82)90020-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Roth J., Bendayan M., Orci L. Ultrastructural localization of intracellular antigens by the use of protein A-gold complex. J Histochem Cytochem. 1978 Dec;26(12):1074–1081. doi: 10.1177/26.12.366014. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Roth J., Lucocq J. M., Charest P. M. Light and electron microscopic demonstration of sialic acid residues with the lectin from Limax flavus: a cytochemical affinity technique with the use of fetuin-gold complexes. J Histochem Cytochem. 1984 Nov;32(11):1167–1176. doi: 10.1177/32.11.6208237. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Roth J., Taatjes D. J., Bitter-Suermann D., Finne J. Polysialic acid units are spatially and temporally expressed in developing postnatal rat kidney. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Apr;84(7):1969–1973. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.7.1969. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Rothbard J. B., Brackenbury R., Cunningham B. A., Edelman G. M. Differences in the carbohydrate structures of neural cell-adhesion molecules from adult and embryonic chicken brains. J Biol Chem. 1982 Sep 25;257(18):11064–11069. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Rutishauser U. Developmental biology of a neural cell adhesion molecule. Nature. 1984 Aug 16;310(5978):549–554. doi: 10.1038/310549a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Rutishauser U., Watanabe M., Silver J., Troy F. A., Vimr E. R. Specific alteration of NCAM-mediated cell adhesion by an endoneuraminidase. J Cell Biol. 1985 Nov;101(5 Pt 1):1842–1849. doi: 10.1083/jcb.101.5.1842. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Sadoul R., Hirn M., Deagostini-Bazin H., Rougon G., Goridis C. Adult and embryonic mouse neural cell adhesion molecules have different binding properties. 1983 Jul 28-Aug 3Nature. 304(5924):347–349. doi: 10.1038/304347a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Tomlinson S., Taylor P. W. Neuraminidase associated with coliphage E that specifically depolymerizes the Escherichia coli K1 capsular polysaccharide. J Virol. 1985 Aug;55(2):374–378. doi: 10.1128/jvi.55.2.374-378.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Towbin H., Staehelin T., Gordon J. Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets: procedure and some applications. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Sep;76(9):4350–4354. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.9.4350. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES