Involvement of CD56/N-CAM molecule in the adhesion of human solid tumor cell lines to endothelial cells.

Tumor-endothelial cell adhesion has been investigated, as this event might represent one of the first steps in the generation of tumor metastasis. We focused our attention on the N-CAM homologous CD56 (besides the CD44, CD15, and CDw49d antigens), as we have recently reported that it can mediate lymphocyte-endothelial cell adhesion [11]. Herein we show that CD56 is involved in tumor cell-endothelial cell binding. This phenomenon is independent of Ca2+ and unlikely to be influenced by the degree of CD56 sialylation.