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The Glycosphingolipid Globotriaosylceramide In The Metastatic Transformation Of Colon Cancer, Olga Kovbasnjuk, Rakhilya Mourtazina, Boris Baibakov, Thomas Wang, Christian Elowsky, Michael A. Choti, Anne Kane, Mark Donowitz

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

The most devastating aspect of cancer is the emergence of metastases. Thus, identification of potentially metastatic cells among a tumor cell population and the underlying molecular changes that switch cells to a metastatic state are among the most important issues in cancer biology. Here we show that, although normal human colonic epithelial cells lack the glycosphingolipid globotriaosylceramide (Gb₃), this molecule is highly expressed in metastatic colon cancer. In addition, a subpopulation of cells that are greatly enriched in Gb₃ and have an invasive phenotype was identified in human colon cancer cell lines. In epithelial cells in culture, …