Inverse relationship of expression between GM3 and globo-series ganglioside in human renal cell carcinoma

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is highly metastatic. We previously showed that expression of globo-series ganglioside is associated with the metastatic potential of RCC. However, the mechanism of metastasis remains largely unknown, and there is no effective therapy for metastasis. It was recently shown that induction of differentiation of colon cancer cells by brefeldin A was accompanied by an increase of GM3 with a concomitant decrease of neolacto-series gangliosides. To get a clue to a new method of therapy for RCC, we investigated whether the similar changes occur in RCC cells expressing globo-series ganglioside. Growth suppression and an increase of GM3 simultaneous with a decrease of monosialosyl galactosyl globoside, a member of globo-series gangliosides, were observed in human RCC cell line ACHN following brefeldin A treatment. The resultant change of the ganglioside profile is inversely related to the ganglioside pattern associated with the malignant potential of RCC and almost coincided with that representative of RCC cases showing favorable prognoses. It is suggested that the inverse relationship of expression between GM3 and globo-series ganglioside is reflected on the degree of malignancy of RCC, and may be useful as one of the indicators for exploiting treatment methods of RCC.