NEU3 inhibitory effect of naringin suppresses cancer cell growth by attenuation of EGFR signaling through GM3 ganglioside accumulation.

Naringin, which is one of the flavonoids contained in citrus fruits, is well known to possess various healthy functions to humans. It has been reported that naringin suppresses cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo, although the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Recently, the roles of glycoconjugates, such as gangliosides, in cancer cells have been focused because of their regulatory effects of malignant phenotypes. Here, to clarify the roles of naringin in the negative-regulation of cancer cell growth, the alteration of glycoconjugates induced by naringin exposure and its significance on cell signaling were investigated. Human cancer cells, HeLa and A549, were exposed to various concentrations of naringin. Naringin treatment induced the suppression of cell growth toward HeLa and A549 cells accompanied with an increase of apoptotic cells. In naringin-exposed cells, GM3 ganglioside was drastically increased compared to the GM3 content prior to the treatment. Furthermore, naringin inhibited NEU3 sialidase, a GM3 degrading glycosidase. Similarly, NEU3 inhibition activities were also detected by other flavanone, such as hesperidin and neohesperidin dihydrocalcone, but their aglycones showed less inhibitions. Naringin-treated cancer cells showed suppressed EGFR and ERK phosphorylation levels. These results suggest a novel mechanism of naringin in the suppression of cancer cell growth through the alteration of glycolipids. NEU3 inhibitory effect of naringin induced GM3 accumulation in HeLa and A549 cells, leading the attenuation of EGFR/ERK signaling accompanied with a decrease in cell growth.

Positive regulation of myoblast differentiation by medaka Neu3b sialidase through gangliosides desialylation.

Sialidase Neu3b is an unique enzyme conserved in medaka and tilapia, but not in mammals. Previous study revealed that medaka Neu3b is localized at cytosol and is a ganglioside-specific sialidase. Neu3b functions, however, have not been understood, while Neu3a sialidase, which is widely conserved from human to fish, is known as a regulator of neurite formation. Here, we investigated the biological function of Neu3b for C2C12 myoblast cell differentiation. Bioinformatics analysis using genome browser revealed the presence of neu3b gene in some orders of fish species such as Beloniformes, Perciformes and Cyprinodontiformes. With the treatment of 2% horse serum, Neu3b-overexpression accelerated myoblast cell differentiation to myotubes accompanied with up-regulation of myogenesis biomarkers mRNA, myod and myog. Neu3b altered ganglioside composition in C2C12 cells results showing a decrease in GM2, and the increase of Lac-Cer, while desialylation of glycoproteins were not detected. Contrary to cell differentiation, Neu3b cell proliferation was suppressed in normal growth medium. To understand the mechanism of the alteration of cell differentiation and proliferation, phosphorylation of signal molecules in EGFR/ERK pathway was investigated. Neu3b induced a decline in phosphorylation of ERK and EGFR. Surprisingly, immuno-blot and real-time PCR analysis revealed that down-regulation of egfr gene could be involved in the acceleration of cell differentiation by Neu3b. These results suggested that Neu3b sialidase is a positive regulator for myoblast differentiation, similar with mammalian cytosolic sialidase Neu2.