FIGURE 11.
Inhibitory effects of galectin-3 antagonists on cell proliferation. A, schematic structures of artificial glycopolymers. m indicates the number of repetitive LacNAcs (m = 1–3), and n indicates the degree of polymerization of glutamic acid residues (n = 467). B, each glycopolymer (0.5 μm) was immobilized on a plate as described under “Experimental Procedures.” The binding affinity of galectin-3 for each glycopolymer was measured by plate assays (means ± S.D., n = 3). C, HCT116/Mock and HCT116/MUC1 cells (1 × 104 cells) were cultured in medium containing 0.5% HI-FBS and each glycopolymer (0.1 μm) for 72 h. The effects of the glycopolymers on cell proliferation were determined by MTT assays. The absorbance observed for each (LacNAc)1-treated cell was taken as 100% (means ± S.D., n = 4). **, p < 0.01. (LacNAc)1, glycopolymer carrying a single LacNAc repeat; (LacNAc)2, glycopolymer carrying a tandem LacNAc repeat; (LacNAc)3, glycopolymer carrying a triplet LacNAc repeat.