Abstract
A murine monoclonal antibody (monoclonal antibody 126) produced against cultured human neuroblastoma cells (LAN-1) was found to be specifically directed to a disialoganglioside (GD2) antigen preferentially expressed on both cell lines and tissues derived from melanoma and neuroblastoma. In enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, monoclonal antibody 126 failed to react with leukemic and lymphoblastoid cells as well as with a variety of carcinoma and sarcoma cell lines. Immunohistological analysis by the immunoperoxidase technique revealed strong reactivity of monoclonal antibody 126 with frozen and formaldehyde-fixed neuroblastoma and melanoma tissues. Tissues from patients with glioma or with small cell cancer of the lung showed faint staining, whereas those from individuals with sarcoma, lymphoma, and a variety of other neoplasms proved to be negative. Sera of neuroblastoma patients showed significantly elevated GD2 levels compared to normal children (p < 0.001) and children with other tumors (p < 0.001) as determined by a quantitative competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Furthermore, the GD2 serum level of one neuroblastoma patient, when followed serially, was found to correlate with progression of disease, suggesting the potential usefulness of this assay for the diagnosis and monitoring of neuroblastoma.
Footnotes
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↵1 This work was supported by USPHS Grant CA28420. This is Publication 3279-IMM from the Department of Immunology, Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, La Jolla, California 92037.
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↵2 Recipient of Deutache Forschungagemeinschaft Grant 1-3-Schu 512/1-1.
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↵3 Recipient of NIH Fellowship Award 1F32 CA07544-01.
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↵4 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed.
- Received May 21, 1984.
- Accepted September 6, 1984.
- ©1984 American Association for Cancer Research.
Volume 44, Issue 12 Part 1
