Neoplastic alteration of a membrane-associated sialidase of rat liver.

Rat liver particulate fraction contains two types of membrane-associated and gangliosides-hydrolyzing sialidase, which have been shown to be identical to two membrane-associated sialidases of rat brain (I and II) chromatographically, immunologically and in substrate specificity. Chromatography on AH-Sepharose 4B of the membrane sialidases of rat primary hepatoma induced by 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene (MeDAB) further revealed that hepatocarcinogenesis induces a marked decrease in sialidase II but no decrease in sialidase I. Using antisera against sialidases I and II of rat brain, immunoprecipitation studies of the solubilized particulate fractions of rat liver and MeDAB-hepatoma gave results similar to those obtained chromatographically. Using the same immunological technique, sialidase II but not sialidase I was found to be decreased in AH109 A hepatoma and in regenerating and fetal liver.