Inhibitory effects of cholera toxin on in vitro growth of human lung cancer cell lines

Cholera toxin (CT) inhibited the growth of three out of 10 small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell lines and two out of seven non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines when tested by 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. These CT-sensitive as well as CT-resistant cell lines bound well to the non-toxic CT-B subunit-fluorescein isothiocyanate conjugate (FITC-CTB) when assayed by flow cytometry. Using the reaction of horseradish peroxidase-conjugated CT-B (HRP-CTB) on thin-layer chromatography (TLC), we analyzed gangliosides extracted from SCLC cell lines, CT-resistant SBC-1, minimally CT-sensitive SBC-3 and CT-sensitive SBC-5. HRP-CTB was found to react not only with GM1, but also with Fuc-GM1, GD1b and other gangliosides on TLC. Although CT-resistant SBC-1 cells bound well to FITC-CTB, the binding of gangliosides extracted from SBC-1 cells to HRP-CTB was markedly decreased when compared to those from CT-sensitive SBC-5 cells. The CT resistance of the minimally CT-sensitive SBC-3 cell lines, which binds weakly FITC-CTB and HRP-CTB, was partially reversed by exogenous GM1 pretreatment. These observations suggest that the amount of gangliosides, such as GM1, Fuc-GM1 and GD1b, on the cells, rather than the CT-binding ability to the cells, plays a major role in cytotoxicity by CT.