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Detection of GD 3 ganglioside in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia with monoclonal antibody to GD 3 : Restriction to immunophenotypically defined T‐cell disease
Author(s) -
Merritt William D.,
Sztein Marcelo B.,
Reaman Gregory H.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of cellular biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 165
eISSN - 1097-4644
pISSN - 0730-2312
DOI - 10.1002/jcb.240370103
Subject(s) - microbiology and biotechnology , antibody , ganglioside , immunofluorescence , antigen , monoclonal antibody , leukemia , staining , chemistry , pathology , biology , medicine , immunology , biochemistry
We have recently reported that the disialoganglioside GD 3 is found in cellular lipid extracts of T‐cell acute lymphoblastic malignancies (T‐ALL) but is not detectable by resorcinol staining in extracts of non‐T acute lymphoblastic leukemia blasts (non‐T‐ALL). We have now extended this study to assess the detectability of GD 3 in T‐ALL vs non‐T‐ALL utilizing an anti‐GD 3 antibody, R 24 . Gangliosides isolated from T‐ALL and non‐T‐ALL blasts by two different methods were separated by thin‐layer chromatography and stained with anti‐GD 3 and a control antibody specific for GM 3 and sialosylparagloboside (SPG). Anti‐GD 3 reactivity was observed in extracts from T‐ALL cells in all cases, whereas GD 3 was not detected in any of the non‐T‐ALL samples. The anti‐GM 3 /SPG antibody stained GM 3 in all of the leukemic samples analyzed as well as SPG in the non‐T‐ALL samples. Indirect immunofluorescence was used to assess the expression of GD 3 at the surface of leukemic blasts. Fluorescence‐activated cell sorting analysis with R 24 showed that whereas T‐ALL blasts were highly reactive with this antibody, non‐T‐ALL blasts were totally unreactive. In an analysis of a larger number of leukemia patients by fluorescence microscopy, 20 out of 28 samples with the T‐ALL phenotype were positive for R 24 , whereas zero out of 11 non‐T‐ALL samples were reactive. These results confirm our earlier finding of the specificity of GD 3 to the T‐ALL subclass of childhood leukemias and furthermore suggest the potential value of anti‐GD 3 as an immunological tool for the diagnosis and therapy of T‐cell ALL.