Gangliosides of the plasma membrane are important modulators of cellular functions. Previous work from our laboratory had suggested that a plasma membrane sialidase was involved in growth control and differentiation in cultured human neuroblastoma cells (SK-N-MC), but its substrates had remained obscure. We now performed sialidase specificity studies in subcellular fractions and found ganglioside GM3 desialylating activity in presence of Triton X-100 to be associated with the plasma membrane, but absent in lysosomes. This Triton-activated plasma membrane enzyme desialylated also gangliosides GD1a, GD1b, and GT1b, thereby forming GM1; cleavage of GM1 and GM2, however, was not observed. Sialidase activity towards the glycoprotein fetuin with modified C-7 sialic acids and towards 4-methylumbelliferyl neuraminate was solely found in lysosomal, but not in plasma membrane fractions. The role of the plasma membrane sialidase in gangliosides desialylation of living cells was examined by following the fate of [3H]galactose-labelled individual gangliosides in pulse-chase experiments in absence and presence of the extracellular sialidase inhibitor 2-deoxy-2,3-dehydro-N-acetylneuraminic acid. When the plasma membrane sialidase was inhibited, radioactivity of all gangliosides chased at the same rate. In the absence of inhibitor, GM3, GD1a, GD1b, GD2, GD3 and GT1b were degraded at a considerably faster rate in confluent cultures, whereas the GM1-pool seemed to be filled by the desialylation of higher gangliosides. The results thus suggest that the plasma membrane sialidase causes selective ganglioside desialylation, and that such surface glycolipid modification triggers growth control and differentiation in human neuroblastoma cells.

Gangliosides, constituents of surfaces of vertebrate cells, modulate important cellular functions. Ganglioside-specific sialidases that possibly control these processes have been observed in a number of tissues, but their characterization has proved difficult due to their low abundance and lability. Here we describe the partial isolation and characterization of a ganglioside sialidase from human brain grey matter. After membrane extraction with octylglucoside, the enzyme was purified about 1300-fold by ion-exchange, affinity and gel-permeation chromatographies. Although PAGE still showed several protein bands, specific photoaffinity labelling with iodinated S-N-acetyl-9-(4-azidosalicoylamido)-2,9-dideoxy-2,3-didehydroneuraminic acid identified a single polypeptide of 60 kDa likely to contain the active site of the sialidase. In the presence of 0.4 % octylglucoside, the purified sialidase desialylated gangliosides G,,, G,,,,, G,,, and G,,,, but was inactive towards G,,, GM2, colominic acid, sialyl-(a2-3)-lactose, 2-(4-methylumbelliferyl)-neuraminate, or the glycoprotein fetuin. The ganglioside sialidase activity was strongly inhibited by 2-deoxy-2,3-didehydro-N-acetylneuraminic acid, heparin and heparan sulfate. Because of its substrate and inhibitor profiles, the purified enzyme resembles the activity characterized previously in the plasma membrane of human neuroblastoma cells, but is distinct from a lysosomal activity. The purified brain sialidase thus appears to function in the selective desialylation of gangliosides with terminal sialic acid residues.

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