[Characterization of the desmoglein in renal cells in culture]

Desmosome junctions are found in epithelial tissues. They both link cells externally and anchor cytoplasmic intermediate filaments to the plasma membrane. Quantitative and qualitative abnormalities in intercellular junctions have been described in a broad spectrum of human and animal cancers. Current efforts are aimed at exploring the possibility that some of these defects may account for the hallmarks of malignancy, namely tumour invasion and metastasis. Desmosomes are constituted by several proteins, one of them is desmoglein-1 (DG-1), a transmembrane glycoprotein who glycosylated portion is major component of the adhesion mediating desmoglia. In order to know the similarity between tissue DG-1 and cultured renal cells DG-1 was used antisera raised against DG-1 to identify cross-reacting components. Anti DG-1 antibodies stained cell-cell boundaries in a punctate fashion in epithelial tissue and on densely grown monolayers of renal cells. Radioimmunoprecipitation and immunoelectrotransference show positive reaction with anti DG-1 antibodies with desmosomes obtained from epithelial tissue and renal cells monolayers, but last one was less positive. Results suggest some minor differences between DG-1 extracted from diverse sources but they have a commun immunodominant epitope.