2 Institute for Medical Physics and Biophysics, University of Münster, Robert-Koch-Str. 31, D-48149 Münster, Germany; 3 Institute of Cell Culture Technology, University of Bielefeld, D-33501 Bielefeld, Germany; 4 VISCUM AG, D-64673 Zwingenberg, Germany; 5 Clinic of Poultry of the Hannover School of Veterinary Medicine, D-30559 Hannover, Germany; and 6 Biotechnology Research and Information Network (BRAIN) AG, D-64673 Zwingenberg, Germany
Received on February 25, 2002; revised on April 12, 2002; accepted on April 17, 2002
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Abstract |
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Key words: gangliosides/glycosphingolipids/recombinant viscumin/ricin/TLC immunostaining
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Introduction |
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Three MLs with different carbohydrate specificities (ML-I, ML-II, and ML-III) have been isolated from mistletoe leaves. ML-I (also known as viscumin) was identified as the main therapeutic principle (Hajto et al., 1989; Beuth et al., 1993
). Unlike ricin, ML-I-containing extracts are medically applied for the treatment of human cancer. Viscumin is categorized as heterodimeric two-chain (type II) ribosome-inactivating protein, composed of a catalytically active A chain with RNA N-glycosidase activity and a B-chain with carbohydrate binding specificities (Olsnes et al., 1982
; Franz, 1986
) to yet undefined receptors on the surface of target cells. Recently, biotechnological production of recombinant ML (rViscumin) was achieved after cloning and separate expression of the single chains in Escherichia coli (Eck et al., 1999a
,b), yielding the active rML-heterodimer (Eck et al., 1999b
). The enzymatic A-chain activity and the carbohydrate binding activity of the B-chain are both essential for the cytotoxic apoptosis-inducing effect of the holoprotein as an anticancer drug (Langer et al., 1999
).
In numerous studies ML has been reported to belong to the group of galactoside-specific/lactose-binding lectins, which bind and cross-link certain multiantennary oligosaccharides, glycopeptides, and glycoproteins (Hajto et al., 1989; Gabius et al., 1992
; Barbieri et al., 1993
; Gupta et al., 1996
). Due to the lack of data concerning the potency of glycosphingolipids (GSLs) as lectin receptors, we investigated the binding specificity of rViscumin in comparison to ricin toward neutral GSLs and gangliosides.
GSLs are amphipathic molecules consisting of a hydrophilic oligosaccharide chain and a hydrophobic component named ceramide (Stults et al., 1989). Gangliosides are characterized by the presence of one or more sialic acids in the oligosaccharide moiety, which are known to play crucial roles in various biological functions (Varki, 1992
; Schauer et al., 1995
). Gangliosides are involved in cellcell recognition (Hakomori et al., 1998
; Hakomori, 2002
) and adhesion by counterpart lectins (Schnaar, 1991
; Feizi, 2001
) and are well-characterized cellular attachment sites for viruses, bacteria, and exotoxins (Suzuki, 1994
; Karlsson, 1989
). Employing naturally occurring GSLs of mammalian origin, we were able to show herein the preferential binding of rViscumin to
2-6-sialylated neolacto-series gangliosides and only marginal binding to galactose-terminated neutral GSLs. Consequently, rViscumin has to be considered as a sialic acidspecific rather than as a galactose-specific type II ribosome-inactivating protein, whereas reinvestigation of ricin specificity confirmed this lectin as galactose-specific.
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Results |
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Binding of rViscumin toward microwell adsorbed neutral GSLs and gangliosides
The microwell adsorption assays of rViscumin with three reference neutral GSL preparations (A, B, and C) and two ganglioside mixtures of well-known structures (D and E) are shown in Figure 1. The only positive reaction within the neutral GSL fractions could be detected for neutral GSLs from human granulocytes, consisting of LacCer and nLc4Cer as the main compounds (Figure 1B). Of the two ganglioside fractions, human brain gangliosides were negative, but HGG revealed strong binding interaction with rViscumin (Figure 1E).
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TLC overlay assays of anti-IV6nLc4Cer antibody and rViscumin with HPLC-separated neolacto-series gangliosides
To confirm this hypothesis, rViscumin binding assays were performed with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-separated HGG-fractions. Ganglioside fractions (Figure 3A) comprising IV3nLc4Cer (HGG1, lane c), VI3nLc6Cer (HGG2, lane d), IV6nLc4Cer (HGG3, lane e), and IV6nLc4Cer plus VI6nLc6Cer and VIII6nLc8Cer (HGG4, lane f) were chromatographed and overlayed with an anti-Neu5Ac2-6Galß1-4GlcNAc-R antibody, which has been raised by immunizing a chicken with IV6nLc4Cer. As shown in Figure 3B, the antibody specifically bound to IV6nLc4Cer, VI6nLc6Cer, and VIII6nLc8Cer of the HPLC fractions as well as to these gangliosides in the total HGG fraction. The isomeric structures IV3nLc4Cer and VI3nLc6Cer were not detected by this antibody. A further indication for the antibody specificity is shown in lane a of Figure 3B, where no cross-reaction could be observed with any ganglio-series gangliosides. Exactly identical binding patterns compared to the anti-Neu5Ac
2-6Galß1-4GlcNAc-R antibody were obtained in the TLC overlay binding assay with rViscumin (Figure 3C), exhibiting its high specificity toward monosialogangliosides with Neu5Ac
2-6Galß1-4GlcNAc-termini (see Table II). Due to assaying ganglioside fractions isolated by gradient anion-exchange HPLC, any cross-reactivities to, for example, "underlying" disialogangliosides or other lipid contaminants, which are absent in the HPLC eluates but might occur in the total HGG fraction, could be excluded. Thus, the most important and unexpected result of these binding assays is the fact that rViscumin is not a galactose-specific but a sialic acidspecific lectin with strict preference of the Neu5Ac
2-6Galß1-4GlcNAc configuration.
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A series of high abundance Y-type ions is present in the tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) spectrum of the molecular ion (m/z 1881.95) of the heptasaccharide ceramide (Figure 4A), starting with loss of sialic acid (Y6 at m/z 1590.83) and followed by consecutive glycosidic cleavage of the other monosaccharide residues (Figure 4B). The mass differences of 162 Da between Y6 (m/z 1590.83) and Y5 (m/z 1428.80), and 203 Da between Y5 (m/z 1428.80) and Y4 (m/z 1225.69), are typical of the loss of either a hexose (e.g., galactose) or N-acetylhexosamine (e.g., N-acetylglucosamine), respectively. The sequence is completed by the ceramide ion Y0 at m/z 536.50. Confirmatory evidence for the nLc6 corecontaining terminal sialic acid is provided by the full series of B-type ions from the nonreducing end of the sugar chains. The B1 ion (m/z 290.11) represents a single N-acetylneuraminic acid moiety, and B2 (m/z 452.14) is assigned to the disaccharide sequence Neu5Ac-Hex. In this way the information obtained from Y-type ion series is supported by the B series ions up to the B7 ion (m/z 1344.45) that represents the complete oligosaccharide core without ceramide. Additionally, a number of internal double cleavages give evidence for the sequence of oligosaccharide units in the chain like the Y6/B3 ion at m/z 364.12 (HexNAcHex), the Y6/B5 ion at m/z 729.25 (Hex2HexNAc2) or the low abundant Y6/B6 ion at m/z 891.32 (Hex3HexNAc2).
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Biological activity of rViscumin
To investigate the cytotoxic ability of rViscumin on the cellular level, three cell lines with different biological background were employed to determine their cell-specific rViscumin sensitivity. Cultures of the human promyelocytic HL-60 cell line, consisting mainly of neutrophilic promyelocytes, exhibited the lowest IC50 value (highest sensitivity) responding to 1.16 pM rViscumin with half maximum cytotoxicity (Figure 5). The human 5637 cell line, representing small malignant cells with epithelial-like morphology and derived from bladder carcinoma, was one order of magnitude less susceptible corresponding to an IC50 value of 12.1 pM rViscumin. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1) cells, epithelial cells derived from a hamster ovary, were insensitive toward the cytotoxic action of rViscumin up to the highest concentration of 5.26 nM tested in this series of experiments. At concentrations of 0.175 nM rViscumin, both HL-60 and 5637 cells completely lost viability, whereas CHO-K1 cells did not show any reduction in cell viability even at 30-fold higher concentrations.
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Discussion |
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Although the conformational parameters of derivatized neutral disaccharide ligands before and after complex formation with the galactose-binding Viscum album lectin have been studied in detail (Gilleron et al., 1998), little is known about the interaction of ML-I with naturally occuring sialooligosaccharides and sialoglycoproteins. The precipitability of human
1-acid glycoprotein and fetuin with ML-I was considerably decreased after desialylation (Wu et al., 1995
), but on the contrary the poor reactivity of rat sublingual sialoglycoprotein with ML-I increased substantially after removal of sialic acid. The inhibition of the glycoprotein-lectin interaction by Neu5Ac
2-3/
2-6Galß1-4Glc was taken as evidence that ML-I is specific for sialic acid. Substitution of the N-acetyllactosamine sequences of oligosaccharides and glycopeptides by sialic acid residues either at O-3 or O-6 of galactose was found to slightly enhance the affinity of ML-I (Debray et al., 1994
).
Following the approach with chemically well-defined model ligands (Lee et al., 1992), a panel of strictly defined neoglycoconjugates and synthetic oligosaccharides were systematically tested to determine their individual binding and inhibitory potency (Galanina et al., 1997
). Among the two natural isomers of sialyllactose, the
2-6 form displayed a higher level of inhibitory capacity than the
2-3 derivative. However, from all these highly sophisticated binding and inhibition assays performed so far, the natural ligands on immunomodulatory potent and/or tumor target cells being responsible for B-chain-specific binding of the ML remained yet unidentified and rather obscure.
Among all the gangliosides tested in this study, terminally sialylated neolacto-series gangliosides with a Neu5Ac2-6Galß1-4GlcNAc epitope at the nonreducing terminus, which have been isolated from human granulocytes, were the exclusive targets for rViscumin-mediated adhesion. The isomeric gangliosides with Neu5Ac
2-3Galß1-4GlcNAc sequences and neutral GSLs with Galß1-4GlcNAc epitope were devoid of binding activity. LacCer (Galß1-4Glcß1-1Cer) was found to be the only, but rather slightly interacting neutral GSL with marginal receptor potency in comparison to
2-6-sialylated gangliosides. However,
2-6-sialylated lacto-series gangliosides with Galß1-3GlcNAc-core cannot be excluded as possible rViscumin ligands at this stage of research. This aspect of further receptor characterization is a part of our future investigations.
Cancer cells are often characterized by the presence of "tumor-associated" GSL-antigens, and major progress has been made over the past two decades on structural identification of these antigens (Hakomori, 1998). None of these structures are truly tumor-specific, and many GSLs to which antitumor antibodies responses are directed are also found in normal tissues. However, a large number of anti-GSL antibodies showed specific or preferential reactivity with tumor cells and no reactivity with normal cells or tissues, based on organizational differences of membrane GSLs in tumor cells versus normal cells. To elucidate the potential role of terminally
2-6-sialylated gangliosides as tumor-associated antigens, careful (re)investigations of rViscumin-susceptible tumor cell lines and/or tumor tissues has to be performed with regard to their specific expression of neolacto-series gangliosides with Neu5Ac
2-6Galß1-4GlcNAc-epitopes.
Following cell surface binding of V. album lectin and ensuing signaling, several cellular responses (such as secretion of cytokines, namely, tumor necrosis factor-, interleukin-1, and interleukin-6 by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells) can be measured in the nontoxic dose range in vitro and in vivo (Hajto et al., 1990
; Gabius et al., 1992
; Möckel et al., 1997
; Stein et al., 1998
; Ribéreau-Gayon et al., 1997
). Specific immune responses against tumor-associated antigens mediated by T lymphocytes and nonspecific immune responses induced by cells of the mononuclear phagocyte system and natural killer cells appear to participate in naturally acquired resistance against neoplastic diseases. Studies on animals and humans proved that ML-I causes significant increase and activation of natural killer cells and enhances phagocytotic activity of granulocytes and monocytes (Hajto et al., 1989
, 1990). T cell activation and preferential expansion of CD8+ T cells mediating the cytotoxic effect has been reported as well (Baxevanis et al., 1998
). The question currently remains unanswered of which type of oligosaccharides, that is, protein- or lipid-bound, is recognized by ML-I and may be responsible for eliciting the enumerated immunoresponses. Concerning the sialic acid specificity of MLB, amino acid sequencing (Huguet Soler et al., 1998
) and molecular cloning of the B-chain in E. coli (Eck et al., 1999b
) led to the speculation that rViscumin possesses at least three binding sites, as recently described for ricin (Frankel et al., 1996
; Steeves et al., 1999
).
Finally, emphasizing the functional importance of receptor clustering described for neoglycoconjugates (André et al., 1997), GSLs and particularly gangliosides are ideal candidates to fulfill the requirements for being effective rVscumin receptors. We presented a body of data that
2-6-sialylated gangliosides might be involved in B-chain-dependent signal triggering, thereby truly resembling cellular targets for rViscumin acting as B-chain-mediated immunomodulator and cytotoxic agent.
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Materials and methods |
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Cell production of 5637 cells was performed in 175-cm2 culture flasks. HL-60 and CHO-K1 cells were produced in a 1-L SuperSpinner (B. Braun Biotech International, Melsungen, Germany) equipped with a membrane stirrer for optimized oxygen supply of the cells (Heidemann et al., 1994). CHO-K1 cells were propagated on Cytodex-1 microcarriers (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Uppsala, Sweden) as described in detail by Duvar et al. (1996)
and Müthing et al. (1996b)
. The physiological set points for spinner cultivations were: 37°C; pH 7.2; aeration with air; stirrer 40 rpm. After reaching the final cell densities, the cells were harvested and washed twice with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) before chloroform/methanol extraction.
Cytotoxicity assay
Cell viability and in vitro cytotoxicity were assayed using 4-[3-(4-iodophenyl)-2-(4-nitrophenyl)-2H-5-tetrazolio]-1,3-benzene disulfonate (WST-1, Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany). Cytotoxicity of rViscumin was analysed with HL-60, 5637, and CHO-K1 cells. Medium for HL-60 cells was serum-free X-Vivo 15 (Biowhittaker, Walkersville, MO), RPMI 1640 with 2.5% fetal calf serum for 5637, and DMEM/F12 with 1% fetal calf serum for CHO-K1 cells. Indirect measurement of cell viability was achieved by conversion of the soluble sulfonated tetrazolium salt into formazan by cells according to Ishiyama et al. (1993). Samples were tested in six replicates, and the absorbance was determined at 450 nm for each well.
To assay cytotoxicity, 8 x 103 5637, 1 x 104 CHO-K1, or 1.8 x 104 HL-60 cells, respectively, were seeded per well in 96-well tissue culture plates (Nunc) and incubated with rViscumin in a final volume of 100 µl for 72 h at 37°C. For treatment, an adequate concentration range of rViscumin was chosen according to the sensitivity of the respective cell line (see Figure 5). After 72 h 10 µl WST-1 solution were added to the cell cultures and incubated for 34 h at 37°C. The amount of dye, which is proportional to the number of viable cells, was measured in a microwell plate reader (THERMOmax, Molecular Devices, Munich, Germany).
rViscumin, ricin, and anti-lectin antibodies
The heterodimeric recombinant ML (rML) rViscumin, composed of rMLA (A-chain) and rMLB (B-chain) (Eck et al., 1999b), was used for analyzing binding specificity toward neutral GSLs and gangliosides in microwell adsorption and TLC overlay binding assay. GSL-bound rViscumin was detected with the mouse IgG monoclonal anti-rMLA antibody TA5 (Tonevitsky et al., 1995
).
R. communis lectin (ricin) was a kind gift of Dr. F. Stirpe (University of Bologna, Italy). Polyclonal rabbit anti-ricin antibody was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Chemie GmbH (Traunstein, Germany; catalog no. R-1254).
rViscumin and ricin are highly potent toxins when reaching the body via the parenteral route (intravenous, subcutaneous, and intramuscular), whereas the enteral route (oral) toxicity is relatively low. Thus, handling of both substances should be done with utmost care, using gloves and avoiding highly concentrated working solutions and sharp or pointed tools.
Generation of rViscumin-susceptible CHO-K1 cells by exogenous gangliosides
The rViscumin-resistant CHO-K1 cells were tested for change in sensitivity to rViscumin after exogenous application of gangliosides in cell cultures. Cells were seeded at a density of 5 x 103 cells per well into a 96-well plate in serum-free CHO-1 medium (Biowhittaker, MD) and cultured for 24 h. The medium was then withdrawn and replaced by CHO-K1 medium containing 0 (control), 25, 50, 100, and 200 µM, respectively, of a preparation of total HGG. Gangliosides were allowed to incorporate into cells for 48 h under culture conditions at 37°C. After this incubation the cells were extensively washed either with serum-free or 5% fetal calf serumcontaining CHO-K1 medium, followed by a 48-h treatment with 5.26 nM rViscumin. Viability was examined by WST-1 staining as described in comparison to untreated control cultures (without gangliosides and rViscumin). All cell culture assays were performed in triplicate in 100 µl volumes per well.
Isolation of GSLs from in vitro cultivated cells
GSLs from in vitro propagated cells were isolated according to standard procedures (Ledeen and Yu, 1982) and as described in detail by Duvar et al. (1997)
. Gangliosides were isolated by anion exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B (Pharmacia Fine Chemicals, Freiburg, Germany) as reported by Müthing et al. (1987)
. The ganglioside fractions were incubated for 1 h at 37°C in aqueous 1 N NaOH to saponify phospholipids followed by neutralization with acetic acid and dialysis. Gangliosides were further purified by adsorption chromatography on Iatrobeads 6RS-8060 (Macherey-Nagel, Düren, Germany) as described by Ueno et al. (1978)
.
Neutral GSLs from human erythrocytes (globo-series), human granulocytes (neolacto-series), and murine MDAY-D2 cells (ganglio-series) served as references for microwell adsorption assays and TLC overlay binding assays. Neutral GSL fractions contained (in the order of the relative amounts in each fraction starting with the dominant compound) Gb4Cer, Gb3Cer, and LacCer (erythrocytes); LacCer, nLc4Cer, nLc6Cer, and Lex-GSL (granulocytes; Müthing et al., 1994; Müthing and Kemminer, 1996
); and Gg4Cer, Gg3Cer, and LacCer (MDAY-D2; Schwartz et al., 1985
; Müthing and Cacic, 1997
).
A ganglioside mixture containing GM3, IV3nLc4Cer, IV6nLc4Cer, and VI3nLc6Cer as the major constituents was isolated from human granulocytes (total HGGs) as previously described (Müthing et al., 1993, 1996a).
A preparation of human brain gangliosides, composed of GM1, GD1a, GD1b, and GT1b, was purchased from Supelco (Bellefonte, PA).
Anion-exchange HPLC separation of terminally 2-3- and
2-6-sialylated neolacto-series gangliosides
For the separation of 2-3- and
2-6-sialylated monosialogangliosides HPLC was carried out with the Superformance universal glass-cartridge device of Merck, earlier published in detail (Müthing and Unland, 1994
; Müthing, 2000
). A glass cartridge (150 mm x 10 mm) filled with Fractogel EMD TMAE-650(S) (Merck, No. 20286) was loaded with total gangliosides from human granulocytes (= HGG, see previous methods). TMAE-Fractogel-bound gangliosides were eluted with a linear ammonium acetate gradient, pooled, and desalted. Four fractions were obtained, comprising terminally
2-3 sialylated (HGG1 and HGG2) and terminally
2-6-sialylated neolacto-type monosiaolgangliosides (HGG3 and HGG4). The fractions HGG1 and HGG2 contained IV3nLc4Cer and VI3nLc6Cer, respectively. IV6nLc4Cer represents the only compound in fraction HGG3. HGG4 contained IV6nLc4Cer and VI6nLc6Cer plus minor quantities of VIII6nLc8Cer. All gangliosides separate as double bands on thin-layer chromatograms due to substitution of the sphingosine moiety with C24-(upper band) and C16-fatty acid (lower band). The structures of IV3nLc4Cer, IV6nLc4Cer, and VI3nLc6Cer have been determined by fast atom bombardmentMS and methylation analysis, as described elsewhere (Müthing et al., 1993
). The terminally
2-3-sialylated gangliosides IV3nLc4Cer and VI3nLc6Cer have been reinvestigated by electrospray ionizationquadrupole time-of-flight MS (ESI-QTOF-MS) as recently reported (Metelmann et al., 2000
). Terminally
26-sialylated gangliosides VI6nLc6Cer and VIII6nLc8Cer were structurally characterized in this study by ESI-QTOF-MS (see the following section).
ESI-QTOF-MS
Gangliosides of HPLC-purified fractions HGG3 and HGG4 were analyzed by nanoESI-MS and MS/MS using a QTOF mass spectrometer (Micromass, Manchester, UK) equipped with a nanospray manipulator. Negative ion mode was used exclusively for the ganglioside analysis. After selecting the precursor ion of interest with the first quadrupole, collision-induced dissociation was applied to obtain fragment ions for MS/MS sequencing (for details see Metelmann et al., 2001). The nomenclature introduced by Domon and Costello (1988)
was used for assignment of fragment ions.
Polyclonal anti-Neu5Ac2-6Galß1-4GlcNAc-R antibody
At the age of 12 weeks a chicken was immunized according to the method of Kasai et al. (1980). HPLC-purified IV6nLc4Cer was prepared from human granulocytes as described. One milligram of the ganglioside was adsorbed to 1 mg permethylated bovine serum albumin (Serva, Heidelberg, Germany) in PBS. The solution was emulsified with an equal part of Freunds adjuvant (Difco, Detroit, MI) in a final volume of 1 ml and administered at multiple intramuscular sites. Preimmune serum was taken just before immunization. After 4 weeks, the chicken was boostered and exsanguinated 14 days later.
High-performance thin-layer chromatography
GSLs were separated on high-performance thin-layer chromatography plates (HPTLC plates, size 10 cm x 10 cm, thickness 0.2 mm, Merck; Art. No. 5633). Neutral GSLs were chromatographed in solvent I (chloroform/methanol/water, 120/70/17, each by volume) and gangliosides in solvent II (chloroform/methanol/water, 120/85/20, each by volume), the latter supplemented with 2 mM CaCl2. Neutral GSLs were visualized with orcinol (Svennerholm, 1956) and gangliosides with orcinol or resorcinol (Svennerholm, 1957
). IV6nLc4Cer-gangliosides of the HGG fraction were quantified by densitometry with a CD60 scanner (Desaga, Heidelberg, Germany) equipped with an IBM-compatible personal computer and densitometric software. Chromatographed bands were measured in reflectance mode at 580 nm (resorcinol) with a light beam slit of 0.1 x 2 mm.
Neutral GSLs from human granulocytes and MDAY-D2 cells as well as gangliosides from human granulocytes appear as double bands on TLCs as already described.
TLC overlay assay
Secondary rabbit anti-chicken IgY, goat anti-mouse IgG and IgM, and goat anti-rabbit IgG antisera, all affinity chromatography-purified and labeled with alkaline phosphatase, were purchased from Dianova (Hamburg, Germany) and used in a 1:2000 dilution (Duvar et al., 1997). The TLC immunostaining procedure was carried out according to Magnani et al. (1982)
with some modifications. After TLC of GSLs the silica gel was fixed with polyisobutylmethacrylate (Plexigum P28, Röhm, Darmstadt, Germany) as described by Müthing and Mühlradt (1988)
. Two reviews concerning the details of the TLC immunostaining procedure have been published (Müthing, 1996
, 1998).
Terminally 2-6-sialylated neolacto-series gangliosides were detected by the chicken polyclonal anti-Neu5Ac
2-6Galß1-4GlcNAc-R antibody. The HPTLC plate was soaked for 15 min with 1% (w/v) bovine serum albumin in PBS (solution A) and then overlayed for 1 h with the primary antibody diluted 1:1000 in solution A. The plate was washed three times with 0.05% (v/v) Tween 21 in PBS (solution B) and incubated for 1 h with alkaline phosphatase-labeled rabbit anti-chicken IgY antibody diluted in solution A. The plate was then washed three times with solvent B and once with glycine buffer (0.1 M glycine, 1 mM ZnCl2, 1 mM MgCl2, pH 10.4) to remove phosphate. Bound antibodies were visualized by color development of blue indigolike stable stain after incubation of the plate with 0.05% (w/v) 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolylphosphate (Biomol, Hamburg, Germany) in glycine buffer.
The rViscumin binding activity toward GSLs was detected after prewashing the plate with 0.1 g/L Tween 80 in PBS (PBS-T80), followed by overlaying the chromatogram for 1 h with 1 µg/ml rViscumin diluted in PBS-T80. The plate was washed with solution B, incubated for 15 min with solution A, and then overlayed with the murine anti-rMLA monoclonal antibody TA5 (1 µg/ml in solution A). The next steps were performed as already described. Secondary alkaline phosphatase labeled anti-mouse IgG and IgM was used for the detection of bound mouse TA5 antibody.
The ricin overlay binding assay was performed according to the protocol described for rViscumin. Ricin was used in a working concentration of 1 µg/ml in PBS-T80; the polyclonal rabbit anti-ricin antibody was employed in 1:200 dilution and detected with alkaline phosphatase labeled secondary anti-rabbit antibody.
Determination of cellular quantities of IV6nLc4Cer
The amounts of IV6nLc4Cer expressed by HL-60 and 5637 cells were quantified by scanning of TLC bands stained with the anti-IV6nLc4Cer antibody. Defined quantities of HGG reference IV6nLc4Cer ganglioside (calibration curve) were scanned in comparison to ganglioside fractions of defined cell numbers ranging from 1 x 106 to 2 x 107 cells. The blue-colored immunostained double bands were scanned in reflectance mode at 630 nm. The numbers of IV6nLc4Cer molecules per cell were calculated by use of Avogadros constant (6.02252 x 1023 molecules per mol) and the known molecular weight of 1626 for IV6nLc4Cer substituted with C24-fatty acid (upper band, compound 1) and the molecular weight of 1516 for IV6nLc4Cer substituted with C16-fatty acid (lower band, compound 2).
Microwell adsorption assay
The microwell adsorption assays were carried out with neutral GSLs and gangliosides on polystyrene microtiter plates (MaxiSorp F96 immuno plates; Nunc) at room temperature. Microwells were loaded with GSLs in 100 µl methanol, starting with a defined GSL amount followed by three serial 1:2 dilutions. Neutral GSLs from human erythrocytes: 1.25, 2.5, 5, and 10 µg; neutral GSLs from human granulocytes: 1.88, 3.75, 7.5, and 15 µg; neutral GSLs from MDAY-D2: 2.5, 5, 10, and 20 µg; human granulocyte gangliosides and human brain gangliosides: 1.25, 2.5, 5, and 10 µg. Methanol was evaporated by exposure of the plate in a dry atmosphere for 45 min at 37°C. The solutions used were the same as described for the TLC overlay binding assay.
All incubation steps were performed in volumes of 100 µl per well. The GSL-coated microwells were incubated for 15 min with PBS-T80 and then provided with 1 µg of rViscumin dissolved in PBS-T80 (0.01 µg/µl). After 1 h incubation the wells were washed three times with solvent B, soaked for 15 min in solution A, and then loaded for 1 h with the murine anti-rMLA monoclonal antibody TA5 (1 µg/ml in solution A). The wells were washed three times with solvent B and incubated with alkaline phosphatase-labeled anti-mouse IgG and IgM secondary antibody diluted 1:2000 in solution A. After 1-h incubation and threefold washing with solution B, bound antibodies were visualized with di-sodium-4-nitrophenylphosphatehexahydrate (16 mM in 0.1 M glycine buffer pH 10.4). Enzyme activity was recorded after 20 min at 405 nm with an ELISA microplate autoreader (EL311, Bio-Tec Instruments, Winooski, VT).
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Acknowledgments |
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Abbreviations |
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The designation of the gangliosides and their core structures follow the IUPAC-IUB recommendations (1998) and the nomenclature of Svennerholm (1963). Structures of neutral GSLs and gangliosides are listed in Table I and II, respectively.
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Footnotes |
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References |
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