Altered surface glycoproteins in melanoma cell variants with reduced metastasizing capacity selected for resistance to wheat germ agglutinin

Variants of B 16-F 1 mouse melanoma cells selected for resistance to wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) toxicity $\text{in}\text{vitro}$ were found to have undergone a stable surface change correlated both to lectin resistance and reduced metastasizing potential. The surface alteration, as indicated by the increased electrophoretic mobilities of several lactoperoxidase-iodinated cell surface proteins in SDS-PAGE, was restricted to polypeptides able to interact with WGA. The availability of lectin-resistant melanoma cell variants having altered metastasizing behavior provides a promising approach to studies of the role of specific cell surface components in the metastasizing process.