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Science 5 March 1971:
Vol. 171. no. 3974, pp. 905 - 907
DOI: 10.1126/science.171.3974.905
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Articles

Embryonic and Neoplastic Cell Surfaces: Availability of Receptors for Concanavalin A and Wheat Germ Agglutinin

A. A. Moscona 1

1 Department of Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637

Embryonic tissue cells dissociated with ethylenediaminetetraacetate are readily agglutinated by the carbohydrate-binding protein concanavalin A. In this property, they resemble transformed, neoplastic cells; and they differ from untransformed adult cells, which are agglutinated by concanavalin A only after their receptors are unmasked by proteolytic treatment. Receptor sites for wheat germ agglutinin are also present on the surface of embryonic cells, but in a masked form, as on untransformed adult culture cells; they can be unmasked by treatment of the cells with trypsin. Concanavalin A binding sites on embryonic cells may function in cell contact and cell organization during embryonic morphogenesis and differentiation and later become masked in adult cells. The unmasking of these sites in neoplastic cells may represent a return, in this respect, to a condition resembling that of embryonic cells and may be related to cell mobility associated with infiltration and metastasis.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Distribution of concanavalin A receptor sites on specific populations of embryonic cells.
M Roberson, A Neri, and S. Oppenheimer (1975)
Science 189, 639-640
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Lectins: Cell-Agglutinating and Sugar-Specific Proteins.
N. Sharon and H. Lis (1972)
Science 177, 949-959
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Concanavalin A Agglutination of Intestinal Cells from the Human Fetus.
M. M. Weiser (1972)
Science 177, 525-526
   Abstract »    PDF »
Turnover of Molecules Which Maintain the Normal Surfaces of Contact-Inhibited Cells.
J. B. Baker and T. Humphreys (1972)
Science 175, 905-906
   Abstract »    PDF »
Golgi Apparatus: Influence on Cell Surfaces.
W. G. Whaley, M. Dauwalder, and J. E. Kephart (1972)
Science 175, 596-599
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Agglutinin Interaction with Embryonic and Adult Cell Surfaces.
A. Sivak and A. A. Moscona (1971)
Science 173, 264-265
   PDF »


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