Role of a Preorganized Scaffold Presenting Four Residues of a GM-3 Lactone Mimetic on Melanoma Progression

Two tetravalent architectures, the glycocalix 7 and the RAFT 9, presenting four residues of a GM-3 ganglioside lactone mimetic, target the host compartment of melanoma and significantly abrogate the effect induced by cancerassociated fibroblasts (CAFs) contact + hypoxia in motility and invasiveness of tumor cells. The data reported: support the involvement of glycoshingolipids (GSLs) in hypoxia and show an interesting role played by the compound 9 in targeting melanoma cells thereby interfering with melanoma progression. The unprecedented findings reported for the glycocluster 9 could contribute in shedding light on the understanding of the critical and complex interactions between tumor cells and their local environment paving the way for new therapeutic agents.