THE GANGLIOSIDE PROFILE OF HUMAN BLADDER CELL-LINES AND THE EFFECT OFEXOGENOUS GANGLIOSIDES ON THEIR GROWTH

The ganglioside composition of three human bladder cell lines, two tum ourigenic (RT112 and EJ138) and one non-tumourigenic (Hu609) were anal ysed by thin-layer chromatography and mass spectroscopy. Sub-confluent cultures of the three cell lines expressed mainly monosialogangliosid es. Xenografts of EJ138 cells expressed nearly twice as much GM(3) as tissue cultured cells. Proliferation of Hu609 and EJ138 cells measured by H-3-thymidine incorporation was increased by GM(3) and further enh anced by addition of EGF. Paradoxically the migration of all three cel l lines was inhibited by a mixture of monosialogangliosides and the in hibition was abolished by EGF.