Molecular cloning of rat intestinal mucin. Lack of conservation between mammalian species.

We have prepared antisera to deglycosylated rat intestinal mucin and used it to obtain immunoreactive clones from a rat jejunum cDNA library. Four of these clones were sequenced, and all were found to be partial cDNAs that contained 18-base pair tandem repeats characteristic of a mucin. These cDNAs encoded a repetitive peptide with a consensus sequence of TTTPDV. Thus, they bear little resemblance to either of the two human intestinal mucin cDNAs isolated previously (Gum, J. R., Byrd, J. C., Hicks, J. W., Toribara, N. W., Lamport, D. T. A., and Kim, Y. S. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 6480-6487 and Gum, J. R., Hicks, J. W., Swallow, D. M., Lagace, R. E., Byrd, J. C., Lamport, D. T. A., Siddiki, B., and Kim, Y. S. (1990) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 171, 407-415). One of these rat mucin clones, designated RMUC 176, was chosen for further analysis. This clone recognized a band of approximately 9 kilobases when used to probe RNA blots. A strong hybridization band was present using rat small intestine and colon RNA but was not detectable when RNA isolated from heart, liver, or kidney was tested. The RMUC 176 clone and the two previously isolated human intestinal mucin cDNA clones were used to probe blots prepared from BamHI-digested DNA of various species. Here, the human probes detected fragments present only in human and chimpanzee DNA, whereas the RMUC 176 clone recognized fragments only in rat and mouse DNA. Thus, the repetitive portions of intestinal mucin genes are apparently not well conserved between phylogenetically distant species.

Comparison of metabolically labeled mucins of LS174T human colon cancer cells in tissue culture and xenograft.

Colon cancer cells in culture synthesize and secrete mucin glycoproteins, which carry a number of cancer-associated antigens. However, the structures and mechanisms of biosynthetic processing are not well understood. Mucins synthesized and secreted by LS174T human colon cancer cells were compared to those in LS174T xenografts in athymic mice. Mucins radiolabeled with glucosamine or sulfate were purified by gel filtration and cesium chloride density gradient centrifugation. The mucins were of high molecular weight and were resistant to chondroitinase ABC, hyaluronidase and HNO2 treatment. They were, however, susceptible to pronase digestion and mild alkaline treatment. Using radiochemical precursors, the cellular mucin was shown to contain fucose, galactose, N-acetylgalactosamine, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylneuraminic acid, and sulfate. Oligosaccharides released by beta-elimination had N-acetylgalactosaminitol as the reduced amino sugar and also unreduced galactosamine, indicating that there is N-acetyl-galactosamine O-glycosidically attached to protein core and also peripheral N-acetyl-galactosamine not directly linked to protein. DEAE-cellulose chromatography of mucins showed two major peaks with both intracellular and secreted mucins, but xenograft mucins also had more acidic components. Sulfate-labeled mucins were shifted to less acidic peaks by neuraminidase digestion, which indicates that the same mucin molecules are both sialylated and sulfated. We conclude that the intracellular mucins of cultured colon cancer cells, those secreted into the medium, and those in nude mouse xenografts are chemically similar, but differ in sialic acid and sulfate content. This experimental model system, LS174T cells maintained in culture and as nude mouse xenografts, may be useful for further biosynthetic and structural studies of colon cancer mucin.

Pancreatic cancer mucin from xenografts of SW1990 cells: isolation, characterization, and comparison to colon cancer mucin.

Mucin has been purified from nude mouse xenografts of SW1990 human pancreatic cancer cells. The mucin was eluted at the void volume of Sepharose CL-4B and was of density greater than 1.3 in CsCl gradients. The isolated mucin had a high content of threonine, serine, and proline, with 31% of the amino acid residues O-glycosylated. The average oligosaccharide composition was NeuAc1.8Fuc0.7Gal2.0GlcNAc1.7GalNAc1.4. Polyclonal rabbit antibodies prepared against the purified mucin recognized primarily mucin polypeptide, and there was extensive immunological cross-reaction between SW1990 pancreatic cancer mucin and LS174T colon cancer mucin. However, using carbohydrate-specific monoclonal antibodies, the two mucins were found to differ. SW1990 mucin had more Lewis, sialyl Lewis, and sialyl Lewis activity, while the colon cancer mucin had more sialyl T antigen. Since pancreatic mucins, whether from normal pancreas or pancreatic cancer, have not previously been well characterized, the availability of SW1990 pancreatic cancer mucin may be useful as a model for studying the expressing of organ-specific or cancer-associated antigens.

Rat intestinal nucleotide-sugar pyrophosphatase. Localization, partial purification, and substrate specificity.

The nucleotide-sugar pyrophosphatase activity of rat small intestine was studied using GDP-[14C]Man as substrate. The highest specific activities in the gastrointestinal tract were in the proximal small intestine, with a preferential localization in villus tip cells. Purified brush-border membranes were highly enriched in nucleotide-sugar pyrophosphatase. After the enzyme was solubilized with detergent and purified 180-fold, it hydrolyzed FAD and p-nitrophenyl-5'-thymidylate, as well as nucleotide sugars. That the same enzyme, a 5'-nucleotide phosphodiesterase, is responsible for nucleotide-sugar pyrophosphatase, phosphodiesterase I, and FAD pyrophosphatase activities is indicated by: co-migration in electrophoresis, parallel thermal inactivation, competitive inhibition studies, and similar regional, cellular, and subcellular localizations.