Expression of the neural cell adhesion molecule NCAM in endocrine cells.

Abstract

We examined the expression of the neural cell adhesion molecule NCAM in a number of endocrine tissues of adult rat and in an endocrine tumor cell line. NCAM was found by immunoelectron microscopy to be present on the surface of all endocrine cells in the three lobes of the hypophysis, although staining was relatively less intense in the intermediate lobe, and in pancreatic islets. Pituicytes, hypophyseal glial cells, were also labeled for NCAM. A rat insulinoma cell line (RIN A2) also expressed NCAM as judged by immunocytochemistry. Analysis of NCAM antigenic determinants (Mr 180, 140, and 120 KD) revealed large variations in the relative proportions of NCAM polypeptides present in the different tissues. Although all tissues and cell lines expressed NCAM-140, NCAM-180 was not detected in the adenohypophysis, pancreas, or adrenal medulla, and NCAM-120 was found in none of the endocrine tissues or cell lines except at low levels in the neurohypophysis. The tumor cell line expressed significant levels of NCAM-180, which was most abundant in the neurohypophysis. These results show that NCAM expression appears to be a general property of endocrine cells, although the antigenic composition differs markedly from that in brain tissue. These data are discussed with regard to the embryological origins of the different endocrine tissues, and possible functional implications are suggested.

IL-1β-induced pro-apoptotic signalling is facilitated by NCAM/FGF receptor signalling and inhibited by the C3d ligand in the INS-1E rat beta cell line

“…Transformed beta cell lines have been reported to express mainly NCAM-140 and in some studies also NCAM-180 though to a minor degree [7,[25][26][27][28][29]. It is unclear which NCAM isoforms are expressed in primary beta cells.…”

“…It is unclear which NCAM isoforms are expressed in primary beta cells. In some studies mainly the NCAM-140 isoform is reported [7,25,28,29] whereas others report that mainly NCAM-120 is expressed in adult islets and expression of NCAM-140 is found only during development and in tumours [26,27]. In beta cells, NCAM has been suggested to be involved in the organisation of biosociology in the islets of Langerhans [26], in beta cell functional activity measured as insulin release [30], and also in natural killer T cell-induced beta cell death [31].…”

In vitro neogenesis of human islets reflects the plasticity of differentiated human pancreatic cells

“…The specific expression of N-CAM in adult pancreatic islets of rodents has been reported [21,26], but in the human pancreas, N-CAM may be found also in ducts [27,28]. We performed the MACS experiments to deplete the pre-existing islets.…”

NCAM: A surface marker for human small cell lung cancer cells

“…LabelIed ceUs were viewed with an invertoscope (Zeiss). The preparation of cells for immunofluorescence and electron microscopy of NCAM was as previously described [7].…”

“…Recently a cell surface molecule, the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM), has been shown to be a characteristic component of rat endocrine cells and its [6,7]. In addition, while in central nervous tissues NCAM occurs as three isoforms of molecular masses 180, 140 and 120 kDa, the NCAM isoform most characteristic of rat endocrine tissues is that of 140 kDa (NCAM 140).…”