N-Glycosylation at Asn 402 Stabilizes N-Cadherin and Promotes Cell-Cell Adhesion of Glioma Cells

Cadherin is crucial for cell-cell adhesion and N-glycosylation of N-cadherin has been implicated in the process of mammary, renal, and ovarian carcinogenesis. However, whether N-glycosylation of N-cadherin plays a role in glioma remains unknown. Previous studies had indicated that N-glycosylation could occur at three asparagine residues of N-cadherin. By generating and over-expressing N-glycosylation-deficient N-cadherin mutants in the human glioma cell lines SHG66 and U87, we found that mutation of N402 but not of the other potentially N-glycosylated residues destabilized N-cadherin and led to its ubiquitylation and subsequent proteasomal degradation. Furthermore, destabilized N-cadherin inhibited cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion and promoted cell migration. Our findings reveal that N-glycosylation controls N-cadherin stability and plays a role in glioma migration. (C) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.