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Modification of Hexosaminidase Isozymes in Rat Hepatoma¹

Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Cochin, 24, rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques, 75014 Pairs, France; Institute de Pathologie Moléculaire, Laboratoire associé au Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Groupe U.15 de l'Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Paris, France [A. W., L. P., F. S.]; and Institut de Recherches Scientifiques sur le Cancer, Villejuif, France [C. L.]

We have shown the existence of two molecular forms of hexosaminidase in rat tissues (liver, brain, muscle, lung, placenta, and red cells) and in rat serum.

These isozymes have been separated by electrophoresis on cellulose acetate membrane and compared with isozymes of slow- and fast-growing hepatomas. In normal liver, as in slow-growing hepatoma, there is a preponderant band with slow anodic migration and another faint more anodic band. On the contrary, in two kinds of fast-growing hepatomas, the fast anodic band was constantly very strong while the slow band was much weaker or even disappeared. This pattern was similar to that of brain and principally to that of fetal liver (16th day). In brain the two bands possessed not only different charges but also different thermostabilities. The isozyme found in rapidly growing hepatoma had the same thermostability as the fast band of brain.

Experiments performed on regenerating liver after partial hepatectomy show that the pattern is almost normal; our findings indicate that the isozymic modifications are not a mere consequence of cellular multiplication.

The modifications of hexosaminidase isozymes give a new example of the resurgence of fetal enzymes in cancer.

¹ This work was supported by grants from the "I.N.S.E.R.M." and the "Ligue Nationale Française contre le Cancer."

² To whom requests for reprints should be sent, at Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Cochin, 24, rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques, 75014. Paris, France.

Received 2/13/73. Accepted 4/18/73.