Epithelial-to-mesenchymal cell transition (EMT) is a basic process in embryonic development and cancer progression. The present study demonstrates involvement of glycosphingolipids (GSLs) in the EMT process by using normal murine mammary gland NMuMG, human normal bladder HCV29, and human mammary carcinoma MCF7 cells. Treatment of these cells with D-threo-1-(3 ,4 -ethylenedioxy)-phenyl-2-palmitoylamino-3-pyrrolidino-1-propanol (EtDO-P4), the glucosylceramide (GlcCer) synthase inhibitor, which depletes all GSLs derived from GlcCer, (i) down-regulated expression of a major epithelial cell marker, E-cadherin; (ii) up-regulated expression of mesenchymal cell markers vimentin, fibronectin, and N-cadherin; (iii) enhanced haptotactic cell motility; and (iv) converted epithelial to fibroblastic morphology. These changes also were induced in these cell lines with TGF-, which is a well-documented EMT inducer. A close association between specific GSL changes and EMT processes induced by EtDO-P4 or TGF- is indicated by the following findings: (i) The enhanced cell motility of EtDO-P4-treated cells was abrogated by exogenous addition of GM2 or Gg4, but not GM1 or GM3, in all 3 cell lines. (ii) TGF- treatment caused changes in the GSL composition of cells. Notably, Gg4 or GM2 was depleted or reduced in NMuMG, and GM2 was reduced in HCV29. (iii) Exogenous addition of Gg4 inhibited TGF--induced changes of morphology, motility, and levels of epithelial and mesenchymal markers. These observations indicate that specific GSLs play key roles in defining phenotypes associated with EMT and its reverse process (i.e., mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition).E-cadherin ͉ EtDO-P4 ͉ Gg4 ͉ motility ͉ TGF-beta E pithelial cells in tissues or cultured in vitro change their morphology, growth behavior, and motility when they encounter a different microenvironment. For example, epithelial cells that come in contact with soluble extracellular matrix components acquire characteristics similar to those of mesenchymal fibroblasts, as originally observed by Hay and colleagues (1-3). After extensive further studies, a concept emerged that the transitional process from epithelial to mesenchymal phenotype is commonly associated with embryonic development, as well as pathological conditions, such as fibrosis or cancer metastasis, and the process was termed ''epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition'' (EMT) (4-10).The EMT process has been characterized, in addition to cell morphology change and increased cell motility, by a striking decline in epithelial markers, such as E-cadherin, desmoplakin, and cytokeratins, accompanied by enhanced expression of mesenchymal markers, such as vimentin, fibronectin, and N-cadherin (10, 11).Previous studies from our group and others have demonstrated that glycosphingolipids (GSLs) mediate cell adhesion (12-15), and they modulate cell growth through their effect on growth factor receptor tyrosine kinases (16)(17)(18)(19)(20). In addition, we have demonstrated that some GSLs, particularly gangliosides, play an essential role...