A parallel association between differentiation and induction of galectin-1, and inhibition of galectin-3 by retinoic acid in mouse embryonal carcinoma F9 cells

Soluble endogenous lactoside-binding lectins, galectins, have been implicated in cell adhesion, growth, differentiation, neoplastic transformation, and metastasis. Two major classes of these lectins, galectin-1 and galectin-3, are developmentally regulated. To explore the mechanisms by which the expression of the galectins is regulated and to examine their association with the differentiation processes induced by all-trans retinoic acid (RA), dibutyryl cyclic AMP (Bt2cAMP) and their combination, we used the murine embryonal carcinoma (EC) cell line F9 and its RA-resistant mutant, RA-3-10. RA induced endodermal differentiation and a concurrent induction of galectin-1 and its complementary glycoconjugates (laminin and lysosomal-associated membrane protein, LAMP) in the F9 wild-type (wt) line, but failed to induce differentiation and had no effects on or even reduced the expression of galectin-1, laminin, and LAMP in the RA-3-10 line. On the other hand, RA inhibited expression of galectin-3 in the wild-type line but had no effect on the RA-3-10 line. The galectin-1 gene is at least partially regulated at the transcriptional level. These results demonstrate a parallel association between differentiation and induction of galectin-1, and inhibition of galectin-3 in F9 cells by RA. The study suggests that a regulated expression of galectins and their complementary glycoconjugates is involved in the differentiation pathway induced by RA in F9 cells.