Emerging GM3 Regulated Biomarkers in Malignant Melanoma

Gangliosides, GSLs, are expressed in the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane of animal cells and involved in a variety of functions, including serving as antigens, receptors for bacterial toxins, mediators of cell adhesion, and mediators and modulators of signal transduction. Moreover, the accumulated lines of evidence have shown that gangliosides play pivotal roles in cancer metastasis. As the first and simplest member in the metabolic series of the ganglioside family, GM3 is a metabolic precursor of more complex natural gangliosides, which in turn determines their contents and biological functions in cells and tissues. GM3 has been demon‐ strated to be involved in regulation of various processes including cell proliferation, differen‐ tiation, apoptosis, embryogenesis and oncogenesis, etc. However, it is difficult to understand the defined functional concepts of GM3 in cancer metastasis because GM3 indirectly exert their effects via regulating target genes.