This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Iwamori, M. Articles by Nagai, Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Iwamori, M. Articles by Nagai, Y.

Compensatory Occurrence of IV²Fuc,II³NeuAc-Gg₄Cer and Human Fetal Antigen Lc₄Cer in Small Cell Carcinomas of the Human Lung¹

Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo [M. I.]; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo [K. K., S. N.]; Pathology Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute, 5-1-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo [S. H., Y. S.]; and Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, 3-18-22 Honkomagome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo [Y. N.], Japan

By means of a thin-layer chromatography immunostaining procedure involving a human monoclonal anti-Lc₄Cer antibody, which was established by hybridizing murine myeloma cells and human lymphocytes from a cancer patient, Lc₄Cer was proven to be a fetal antigen of human lung and to be a cancer-related antigen in small cell carcinomas of human lung, but not of other lung cancers, i.e., large cell carcinomas, adenocarcinomas, and squamous carcinomas. With the simultaneous detection of IV²Fuc,II³NeuAc-Gg₄Cer with rabbit anti-IV²Fuc,II³NeuAc-Gg₄Cer antiserum, the expression of Lc₄Cer and IV²Fuc,II³NeuAc-Gg₄Cer was found to be compensatory and, consequently, small cell lung carcinomas could be classified into Lc₄Cer- and IV²Fuc,II³NeuAc-Gg₄Cer-expressing types, L-SCLC and F-SCLC, respectively, which were detected in four and 27 of 31 patients' tissues and in one and three of four nude mouse-transplanted small cell lung carcinoma tissues, respectively. The compensatory expression of Lc₄Cer and IV²Fuc,II³NeuAc-Gg₄Cer in small cell carcinomas indicated that different metabolic pathways for glycosphingolipids were activated to give the distinct glycosphingolipid compositions in the two types of small cell lung carcinomas.

¹ This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas, No. 04250106, from the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture, Japan.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed.

Received 4/ 2/93. Accepted 10/ 8/93.