Involvement of GM3 in Cell Adhesion

In general, multiple adhesion systems are involved in cell-cell adhesion. For example, adhesion of neutrophils to activated platelets or ECs involves E- or P-selectins, intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), and P2 

FIGURE 4. Interaction of various GSLs with A -acetyI-GM3. S indicates a strong interaction M, a moderately strong interaction and W, a weak interaction. The dashed lines indicate no interaction, and the bidirectional arrows a negative or repellent interaction. Based on data from adhesion of GSL-liposome to solid-phase GSL, or multivalent GSL oligosaccharide to GSL affixed in a column (Kojima and Hakomori, 1989, 1991). 

FIGURE 5. Adhesion of BL6 cells to mouse ECs is based on interaction of GM3 (expressed on BL6 cells) with Gg3 or LacCer (expressed on ECs). (A, B) Laminar flow dynamic adhesion system. Wall shear stress was calculated as described by Lawrence et al. (1990). One of the parallel plates was coated with Gg3-liposome, LacCer-liposome, FN, or laminin (LN), and BL6 cells suspended in medium were passed through the laminar flow chamber. See Kojima etal. (1992c) for experimental details. Adhesion based on Gg3 or LacCer predominated over that based on FN or LN, regardless of shear stress. (C) Static adhesion system. FN- or LN-dependent adhesion became obvious only after 30 min of incubation. In contrast, Gg3- or LacCer-dependent adhesion were obvious at 20 min. These results suggest that there is a longer lag time for integrin-based cell adhesion compared to adhesion based on carbohydrate-carbohydrate interaction, in a static system. 

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