Sialic acid-containing glycosphingolipids, gangliosides, are expressed at high levels in the nerve tissues and various tumor cells. Although a number of studies on the roles of gangliosides in the regulation of cell proliferation have been performed, the mechanisms for the regulation are not well understood. We established PC12 transfectant cells over-expressing GM1 using cloned β1,3-galactosyltransferase (EC: 2.4.1.62) cDNA, and analyzed their growth and growth signals with epidermal growth factor (EGF). Over-expression of GM1 enhanced the cell proliferation with EGF under low serum culture conditions. The phosphorylation levels of EGF receptor and downstream MAP kinases after EGF stimulation were sustained even after 60 min in the transfectant cells. In contrast with Swiss3T3 cells, in which we previously reported growth suppression with GM1 over-expression due to a dramatic change in the intracellular localization of PDGF receptor, PC12 transfectant cells with β1,3-galactosyltransferase cDNA showed no clear changes in the intracellular localization of EGF receptor in the microdomain/raft fractionation experiments compared with the vector control cells. These results suggested that the effects of GM1 expression on the nature of microdomains and growth signals depend on the cell types and receptors analyzed.

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