Cells selected for high tumorigenicity or transformed by simian virus 40 synthesize heparan sulfate with reduced degree of sulfation.

Cell lines, selected from two independent clones of an established mouse embryo cell line by their ability to grow as solid tumors in immunocompetent syngeneic hosts, were found to have the same alteration in anion exchange properties as was previously reported for simian virus 40 (SV40)-transformed subclones. One tumor cell line (219CT) and one SV40-transformed subclone (215CSC) were selected for further detailed comparison with their common parent clone (210C). Cellulose acetate electrophoresis at pH 1.0 showed that 215CSC heparan sulfate had a slight overall decrease in sulfation compared with heparan sulfate from 210C; however, no gross difference in sulfation could be detected between heparan sulfate from 219CT and 210C. Analysis of the products of deaminative cleavage of heparan sulfate by nitrous acid under conditions where cleavage occurs quantitatively at N-sulfated glucosamine residues showed that, although heparan sulfate from the three cell lines gave similar yields of O-sulfated disaccharides, both 215CSC and 219CT had only about half as many O-sulfate residues in higher molecular weight oligosaccharides compared to heparan sulfate from 210C. Enzymatic degradation of heparan sulfate with a mixture of enzymes from Flavobacterium heparinum showed that this common alteration in heparan sulfate from both 215CSC and 219CT resulted from a 30% decrease in glucosamine residues bearing 6-O-sulfate groups. As this decrease in 6-O-sulfate glucosamine residues occurs in regions of the chain containing relatively few sulfate groups, it is clear that certain sequences of charged groups present in heparan sulfate frm 210C will be found only rarely in heparan sulfate from 215CSC and 219CT. It is suggested that this will result in alterations of the interaction of heparan sulfate with other molecules in the microenvironment at the cell surface which may be important in the control of such phenomena as cell growth and adhesion.