Expression pattern of galectin-3 in neural tumor cell lines

Galectin-3 is a member of the galectin family of beta-galactoside-specific animal lectins. Here we show that galectin-3 is constitutively expressed in 15 out of 16 glioma cell lines tested, but not by normal or reactive astro cytes, oligodendrocytes, glial O-2A progenitor cells and the oligodendrocyt e precursor cell line Oli-neu. Galectin-3 is also expressed by one oligoden droglioma cell line, but not by primitive neuroectodermal tumor and 4 neuro blastoma cell lines tested so far. In all galectin-3 expressing cell lines, the lectin is predominantly, if not exclusively, localized intracellularly and carries an active carbohydrate recognition domain (shown for C6 rat gl ioma cells). Moreover, in contrast to primary astrocytes, glioma cells do n ot or only weakly adhere to substratum-bound galectin-3, probably reflectin g an unusual glycosylation pattern. Our findings indicate that the expressi on of galectin-3 selectively correlates with glial cell transformation in t he central nervous system and could thus serve as a marker for glial tumor cell lines and glial tumors. J. Neurosci. Res. 60:45-57, 2000. (C) 2000 Wil ey-Liss, Inc.