title: Detection of GD3 ganglioside in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia with monoclonal antibody to GD3: restriction to immunophenotypically defined T-cell disease.
abstract: We have recently reported that the disialoganglioside GD3 is found in cellular lipid extracts of T-cell acute lymphoblastic malignancies (T-ALL) but is not detectable by resorcinol staining in extracts of non-T acute lymphoblastic leukemia blasts (non-T-ALL). We have now extended this study to assess the detectability of GD3 in T-ALL vs non-T-ALL utilizing an anti-GD3 antibody, R24. Gangliosides isolated from T-ALL and non-T-ALL blasts by two different methods were separated by thin-layer chromatography and stained with anti-GD3 and a control antibody specific for GM3 and sialosylparagloboside (SPG). Anti-GD3 reactivity was observed in extracts from T-ALL cells in all cases, whereas GD3 was not detected in any of the non-T-ALL samples. The anti-GM3/SPG antibody stained GM3 in all of the leukemic samples analyzed as well as SPG in the non-T-ALL samples. Indirect immunofluorescence was used to assess the expression of GD3 at the surface of leukemic blasts. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis with R24 showed that whereas T-ALL blasts were highly reactive with this antibody, non-T-ALL blasts were totally unreactive. In an analysis of a larger number of leukemia patients by fluorescence microscopy, 20 out of 28 samples with the T-ALL phenotype were positive for R24, whereas zero out of 11 non-T-ALL samples were reactive. These results confirm our earlier finding of the specificity of GD3 to the T-ALL subclass of childhood leukemias and furthermore suggest the potential value of anti-GD3 as an immunological tool for the diagnosis and therapy of T-cell ALL.
authors.affiliation: Bacterial Toxins Branch, Food and Drug Administration, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
authors.forename: W D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Merritt
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Sztein
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Reaman
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D002648:Child; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005732:Gangliosides / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007945:Leukemia, Lymphoid / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D010641:Phenotype; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D005732:Gangliosides; C026226:ganglioside, GD3