Influence of cholesterol derivatives on cytoskeletal organization of human carcinoma cells.

Recent developments of immunotherapeutic approaches have shown that artificial ordering of tumor cell membranes with cholesterol hemisuccinate (CHS) or 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-OH) may significantly enhance the immunogenicity of human renal adenocarcinoma cells. To gain further insight into the molecular mechanism of these sterols, we investigated cytoskeletal modification, which is related to the cell membrane. After treatment of human renal carcinoma cells with these cholesterol derivatives (at 10 -6 and 10 -7 M) for 5 days, we observed a desorganization of the submembrane end of the cytoplasmic actin stress fibers by cytofluorescence. The microtubule network was not affected