Role of gangliosides in active immunotherapy with melanoma vaccine

Among various tumor associated cell surface antigens, gangliosides, the glycosphingolipids that contain sialic acids, offer a variety of epitopes, some of which are preferentially expressed on melanoma cells. These surface components of the bilayered lipid membrane of tumor cells are the targets of active immunotherapy with melanoma vaccine. Purified gangliosides in aqueous solution form micelles and, at high density, form lactones. Their antigenic expression (physical conformation and orientation) on the cell surface is governed by the nature of the sphingosine and the fatty acids they contain. Evidence is accruing to show that the nature of the fatty acid moiety of gangliosides differs in normal and neoplastic cells. Gangliosides per se are not immunogenic and require extrinsic adjuvanticity. Preparation of a melanoma cell vaccine for active immunotherapy requires an understanding of the ganglioside profile of melanoma, the ganglioside-associated heterogeneity of melanoma, and the role of shed melanoma gangliosides in the immunosuppression of cell mediated and humoral immunity. In addition, the role of some of the anti-ganglioside antibodies in the elimination of shed gangliosides, the cytotoxic killing of tumor cells, as well as in the down-regulation of lymphocyte functions must be considered in the formulation of vaccine. Different strategies for augmenting the immunogenicity of melanoma associated gangliosides with melanoma vaccine are evaluated.