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

GD3 immunocytochemical analysis was performed in 25 human specimens obtained by autopsy and biopsy from patients with astrocytomas, anaplastic astrocytomas, cerebellar astrocytomas and glioblastoma multiforme (GM), using the ABC method. Extraction of the ganglioside fraction from GM was used for thin-layer chromatography (TLC) analysis to confirm the specificity of anti-GD3 monoclonal antibody (DSG-1). Normal astrocytes were not immunoreactive for GD3. Neoplastic astrocytes of low- to high-grade tumours were GD3 immunoreactive. In GM, the multinucleated giant cells were also immunoreactive. All immunoreactivity present was within the cytoplasm. In TLC analysis, enzyme immunostaining of gangliosides from GM with DSG-1 showed only one positive 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 presence of GD3 within the cytoplasm of neoplastic astrocytes showing invasive and proliferative properties, is of considerable interest. The implications and possible significance of the presence of GD3 in the cytoplasm in glioma cells are discussed.