Enterocytic differentiation of a subpopulation of the human colon tumor cell line HT‐29 selected for growth in sugar‐free medium and its inhibition by glucose
- 1 January 1985
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Cellular Physiology
- Vol. 122 (1), 21-29
- https://doi.org/10.1002/jcp.1041220105
Abstract
In order to study the effect of glucose on the differentiation of cultured human colon cancer cells, a subpopulation of HT‐29 cells was selected for its capacity to grow in the total absence of sugar. These cells (GIc−cells) exhibit, after confluency, an enterocytic differentiation, in contrast to cells grown with glucose (Glc+ cells), which always remain undifferentiated. The differentiation is characterized by a polarization of the cell layer with apical brush borders and tight junctions, and by the presence of sucrase‐isomaltase. The differentiation of Glc−cells is reversible: the addition of glucose to postcon‐fluent cultures of Glc− cells results in an inhibiting effect on the expression of sucrase‐isomaltase; switching growing cultures of Glc−cells to the Glc+ medium for several passages results in a progressive reversion to the undifferentiated state, which is completed after seven passages. The dedifferentiation process is associated with a parallel, passage‐related, increase in the rates of glucose consumption and lactic acid production, and decreases of intracellular glycogen content, which return to the values of the undifferentiated original Glc+ cells. The values of these metabolic parameters are correlated, at each passage, with the degree of dedifferentiation of the cells. When these dedifferentiated cells, after having been cultured in Glc+ medium for 20 passages, are switched back to the Glc− medium, they readily grow without mortality, and reexpress the same enterocytic differentiation as the parent Glc− cells. These results show that the capacity of this subpopulation to grow and differentiate in the absence of sugar is a stable characteristic. They further suggest that glucose metabolism interferes with the program of differentiation of HT‐29 cells.Keywords
This publication has 28 references indexed in Scilit:
- Lounging in a lysosome: the intracellular lifestyle of Coxiella burnetiiCellular Microbiology, 2007
- Relationship between the secretor status and the expression of ABH blood group antigenic determinants in human intestinal brush-border membrane hydrolasesBiochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - General Subjects, 1983
- Sucrase‐isomaltase: A marker of foetal and malignant epithelial cells of the human colonInternational Journal of Cancer, 1983
- The biochemical and ultrastructural effects of tunicamycin and D‐glucosamine in L1210 leukemic cellsJournal of Cellular Physiology, 1983
- A switch for transdifferentiation in culture: Effects of glucose on cell determination in chick embryo neuroretinal culturesDevelopmental Biology, 1982
- Hexose transport in hybrids between malignant and normal cellsNature, 1981
- “Western Blotting”: Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels to unmodified nitrocellulose and radiographic detection with antibody and radioiodinated protein AAnalytical Biochemistry, 1981
- Insulin binding by a cell line (HT 29) derived from human colonic cancerMolecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 1979
- Purification of the human intestinal brush border membraneBiochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes, 1973
- Cleavage of Structural Proteins during the Assembly of the Head of Bacteriophage T4Nature, 1970