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Updated: Oct 5, 2026
Isolation and Flow Cytometric Analysis of Glioma-infiltrating Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells
Published on: November 28, 2015
Disaloganglioside GD2 loss following monoclonal antibody therapy is rare in neuroblastoma
K Kramer1, W L Gerald, B H Kushner
1Department of Pediatrics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10021, USA.
Background:
Gangliosicle GD2 is abundant on human neuroblastoma (NB). Monoclonal antibody 3F8 targeted to GD2 may have imaging and therapeutic potential. Antigen-negative clones can escape immune-mediated attack leading to clinical resistance or recurrence.
Procedure:
Among 95 evaluable patients treated intravenously with 3F8 (94 Stage 4, 1 Stage 3), 66 received nonradiolabeled 3F8, 11 received 131-iodine-labeled-3F8 (8-28 mCi/kg) with autologous bone marrow rescue, and 18 received both forms of treatment. Prior to treatment, 90 patients tested positive for GD2 reactivity by bone marrow immunofluorescence (n = 68), tumor immunohistochemistry (n = 20), or diagnostic radioimmunoscintigraphy (n = 2).
Results:
Of 62 patients who had refractory or recurrent neuroblastoma following 3F8 treatment, 61 (98%) tested positive for GD2 reactivity by bone marrow immunofluorescence (n = 51) or tumor immunohistochemistry (n = 10). The sole tumor that lost GD2 expression underwent phenotypic transformation into a pheochromocytoma-like tumor.
Conclusions:
The persistence of GD2 expression in refractory or recurrent NB suggests that complete antigen loss is an uncommon event and cannot account for treatment failure.
