Altered extracellular ATP, ADP and AMP catabolism in glioma cell lines

In order to characterize the enzymes involved in the purine nucleotide catabolism as indicators of invasiveness and aggressiveness of malignant gliomas, the degradation of extracellular nucleotides by five different glioma cell lines was investigated and compared with primary astrocytes. Rapid hydrolysis of extracellular ATP and ADP by astrocytes was observed, whereas all glioma cell lines examined presented low rates of ATP hydrolysis. In contrast, ecto-5'-nucleotidase activity was increased in glioma cell lines when compared to astrocytes. Considering that ATP is recognized as a mitogenic factor that induces proliferation in human glioma cells, the substantial decrease in ATP and ADP hydrolysis observed in gliomas leads us to suggest that alterations in the ecto-nucleotidases pathway may represent an important mechanism associated with malignant transformation of glioma cell lines.