Membrane associated proteins and malignancy: an experimental hypothesis.

Normal human lymphocytes and human tumor cell lines were labeled with an apolar fluorescent probe (1, 6-diphenyl-1, 3, 5-hexatriene), and fluoresence polarization (P) values were determined. The arguments presented in this study suggest that although P values represent an intricate average of all labeled hydrophobic regions of the cell (phospholipid bilayers, membrane proteins and enzymes, etc.), to a large extent, interactions of the probe with membrane proteins are of primary importance. The lower P values obtained with the tumor cell lines, compared with the normal lymphocytes, were interpreted as indicating alterations in either the structure or concentration of a membrane associated protein(s).