Glycosphingolipid antigens in neural tumor cell lines and anti-glycosphingolipid antibodies in sera of patients with neural tumors.

To characterize biomarkers in neural tumors, we analyzed the acidic lipid fractions of 13 neural tumor cell lines using enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) and high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) immunostaining. Sulfated glucuronosyl glycosphingolipids (SGGLs) are cell surface molecules that are endowed with the Human Natural Killer-1 (HNK-1) carbohydrate epitope. These glycosphingolipids (GSLs) were expressed in all cell lines with concentrations ranging from 210 to 330 ng per 2 x 10(6) cells.

Expression of gangliosides in an immortalized neural progenitor/stem cell line.

Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are known to play important roles in cellular growth and differentiation in the nervous system. The change in expression of gangliosides is correlated with crucial developmental events and is evolutionarily conserved among many vertebrate species. The emergence of neural progenitors represents a crucial step in neural development, but little is known about the exact composition and subcellular localization of gangliosides in neural progenitor cells.

Variations in gene expression patterns correlated with phenotype of F-11 tumor cells whose expression of GD3-synthase is suppressed.

Alteration in ganglioside composition in F-11 cells by suppression of GD3-synthase gene expression resulted in greatly reduced tumor growth and metastasis when the cells were injected into nude mice. To identify genes whose expression is correlated with the decreased level of ganglioside GD3, we analyzed gene expression profiles of the GD3-suppressed F-11 cells and the control F-11 cells using DNA microarrays. We identified a set of GD3-related genes, most of which are involved in tumor growth and development.