Aberrant expression of gangliosides in human renal cell carcinomas

Aberrant and elevated ganglioside expression has been observed in neoplasms, and has been shown to be an important marker of tumor progression. We therefore studied the gangliosides of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) by analyzing gangliosides from 18 RCC biopsies, 10 RCC lines and 5 normal kidney biopsies. A comparison of tumor with normal tissue revealed a significant difference in individual ganglioside expression in which the former consistently expressed eight major gangliosides, GM3, GM2, GM1, GD3, GD1A, GD2, GD1B and GT1B, according to the nomenclature of Svennerholm. There was a notable significant mean increase in the expression of GM2, GM1 and GD1A and a significant decrease in the expression of GD3 in tumor tissue compared with normal kidney tissue. Compared with tumor biopsy tissue, RCC cell lines showed a significant decrease in the expression of GM3, but a significant increase in GM2, GM1 and GD2. There was a marked increase in a pathway gangliosides (GM2, GM1, and GD1a) in RCC biopsies and cell lines compared with normal kidney. These studies indicating that RCC have markedly aberrant ganglioside expression similar to neural origin tumors may relate to the activation of a ganglioside pathway enzymes. Gangliosides expressed on RCC tumors may be important markers of tumor progression and target antigens for immunotherapy.