Occurrence of ganglioside GD3 in neoplastic astrocytes - An immunocytochemical study in humans

GD3 immunocytochemical analysis was performed in 25 human specimens obtaine d by autopsy and biopsy from patients with astrocytomas, anaplastic astrocy tomas, cerebellar astrocytomas and glioblastoma multiforme (GM), using the ABC method. Extraction of the ganglioside fraction from GM was used for thi n-layer chromatography (TLC) analysis to confirm the specificity of anti-GD 3 monoclonal antibody (DSG-1). Normal astrocytes were not immunoreactive fo r GD3. Neoplastic astrocytes of low- to high-grade tumours were. GD3 immuno reactive. In GM, the multinucleated giant cells were also immunoreactive. A ll immunoreactivity present was within the cytoplasm. In TLC analysis, enzy me immunostaining of gangliosides from GM with DSG-1 showed only one positi ve band, which had the same TLC migration rate as GD3, indicating that GD3 of the ganglioside fraction from GM is the antigen detected by DSG-1. The p resence of GD3 within the cytoplasm of neoplastic astrocytes showing invasi ve and proliferative properties, is of considerable interest. The implicati ons and possible significance of the presence of GD3 in the cytoplasm in gl ioma cells are discussed.