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Gangliosides of Human Melanoma: Altered Expression in Vivo and in Vitro¹

Division of Surgical Oncology, John Wayne Cancer Clinic, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90024 [T. T., M. R., R. F. I.], and Veterans Administration Medical Center, Sepulveda, California 91343 [R. E. S.]

The ganglioside composition of human melanoma was analyzed in five sets of tumor specimens obtained (a) directly from surgery, (b) from the autologous tissue culture cell lines, and (c) from the autologous cell lines grown in athymic nude mice. Total gangliosides of these 15 melanoma specimens were isolated and purified, and the amount of each component ganglioside was analyzed by thin-layer chromatography and a thin-layer chromatography scanner. The ganglioside composition of the five surgical melanoma specimens clearly exhibited different patterns from each other. Moreover, none of the autologous cultured melanomas possessed the same ganglioside composition as their original biopsied tumors. However, when these melanoma cell lines were transplanted into nude mice, the ganglioside composition was converted back to the same ganglioside pattern as in the original surgical specimens. The results support the view that changes in the ganglioside composition of melanoma during in vitro growth are caused by the culture environment rather than by selection of melanoma cells with a particular genotype. Reestablishment of the original ganglioside patterns after passage in nude mice provides clear evidence that in vivo expression of gangliosides is a conserved and stable function specified by the human melanoma cells.

¹ This project was supported by Grants CA 12582, CA 36064, and CA 42396, awarded by the National Cancer Institute, and by the Joyce and Ben Eisenberg Foundation.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at the Division of Surgical Oncology, 9th Floor, Louis Factor Building, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90024.

Received 8/26/86. Revised 11/24/86. Accepted 12/ 2/86.