Gangliosides of melanoma

The relationships between the ganglioside composition of melanomas and their biologic behavior were investigated. (1) The amount of GM2 and/or GD2 in melanoma cells injected into nude mice correlated with the tumor growth rate. (2) GD2 content of melanoma cell lines correlated with sensitivity to radiation and vincristine. (3) GM2 expression of melanoma cells correlated with sensitivity to lymphokine-activated killer cells. (4) Gangliosides inhibited the proliferation of human T cells stimulated with interleukin-4 or interleukin-2. Based on these results, we proposed a hypothesis for the role of melanoma-associated gangliosides in the biologic behavior of melanomas and suggested a prospective melanoma treatment related to the gangliosides.