The present study demonstrates that the functional counter-receptors for E-selectin at the cell surface of Colo201 human colon cancer cells are localized in detergent-insoluble membrane microdomains (DIM). Following isolation of counter-receptors from whole cell lysates using E-selectin-coupled magnetic beads followed by sucrose density gradient separation, both sialyl Lewis a (SLe(a))- and sialyl Lewis x (SLe(x))-carrying glycoproteins which had bound to the E-selectin-beads were distributed in detergent-soluble fractions as well as DIM. In contrast, following isolation of counter-receptors directly from the cell surface, SLe(a)-carrying glycoproteins which had bound to E-selectin-beads at the cell surface were localized only in DIM, together with a Src family kinase, Lyn, while SLe(x)-carrying glycoproteins were not detected in any fraction. The counter-receptors were distributed in a diffuse pattern on the cell surface but clustered following E-selectin binding, leading to the subsequent phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). Treatment of the cells with methyl-beta-cyclodextrin, a cholesterol-depleting drug, had little effect on either the association of SLe(a)-carrying glycoproteins and Lyn with the domain or ERK phosphorylation. Thus, the functional counter-receptors and Lyn are co-localized in a cholesterol-independent microdomain and create a physiological domain ('glycosynapse') at the cell surface that initiates signalling in cancer cells upon binding to E-selectin.