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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 279, Issue 24, 25390-25399, June 11, 2004
Bioengineering of Surface GD3 Ganglioside for Immunotargeting Human Melanoma Cells*![]() ![]() ![]() From the Institute for Biological Sciences, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada
Received for publication, March 11, 2004 , and in revised form, March 26, 2004.
N-Propionyl, N-butyryl (N-Bu), and N-benzoyl mannosamine, as precursors of sialic acid biosynthesis, were incubated with human melanoma SK-MEL-28 cells and resulted in the replacement of N-acetyl groups on the cell surface sialic acid residues, including those associated with GD3. Meanwhile, vaccines containing GD3 and modified GD3 tetrasaccharide-keyhole limpet hemocyanin conjugates were synthesized, and BALB/c mice were immunized with them together with monophosphoryl lipid A adjuvant. The GD3Bu-keyhole limpet hemocyanin conjugate raised the highest IgG titers without any cross-reactivity to unmodified GD3. Expression of GD3Bu epitopes on the surface of SK-MEL-28 cells was confirmed in vitro and in vivo by the binding of a polyclonal antiserum and monoclonal antibody (mAb) 2A, both of which specifically recognize GD3Bu, and by mass spectroscopic analysis of glycolipids extracted from cells. Following expression of GD3Bu on the surface of SK-MEL-28 cells, the cells could be lysed by mAb 2A and GD3Bu antiserum in the presence of complement. Although less effective in the control of existing large size tumors ( 10 mm inner diameter) on BALB/c nu/nu mice, mAb 2A in combination with ManNBu effectively protected mice from SK-MEL-28 tumor grafting. This approach may provide a method to augment the immunogenicity of sialylated human antigens and to avoid generating an autoimmune response to them at same time.
Gangliosides GM2, GD2, and GD3 are highly expressed in human tumors of neuroectodermal origin, such as melanoma, glioma, and neuroblastoma, whereas these molecules are minor components in normal tissue (18). Gangliosides, along with other carbohydrates, have been identified as potential immunotargets for cancer treatment (912). Livingston et al. (1317) have demonstrated GM2 and GD2 conjugated to KLH1-induced specific antibodies in patients, and a favorable disease-free and overall survival rate was observed. However, GD3, one of the dominant melanoma gangliosides, is not immunogenic, and inducing antibodies against GD3 in patients by active immunization even by using various adjuvants was unsuccessful (1820). Recently, Livingston et al. (21) tested GD3-lactone-KLH conjugate in patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer stage III or IV metastatic malignant melanoma, and some cross-reactive antibodies to GD3, both IgG and IgM, were detected.
Another therapeutic strategy is to use GD3 as a potential target for passive immunotherapy. A murine mAb (R24) recognizing GD3 has been tested in patients in various clinical trials. Regression of melanoma metastasis after treatment has been documented repeatedly (2226). More recently, a chimeric antibody KM871 showed its efficacy in the treatment of melanomas in a nude mice model by slowing the tumor growth (27). The humanized antibody tested in a phase I clinical trial is not immunogenic in man (28) and is directed to the tumor site in mice (29). Although these approaches are promising, neither active vaccination nor antibody administration are completely successful (30, 31), and new and improved treatments are obviously needed. We have reported recently (32) that poorly immunogenic PSA on the surface of RMA leukemia cells can be biochemically engineered to express N-propionyl PSA by using ManNPr as a precursor, and that the resultant cells became susceptible to the treatment with an N-propionyl PSA-specific monoclonal antibody in vitro and in vivo. In this work we have extended the same strategy to another poorly immunogenic GD3 antigen. As a result of biochemically engineering the sialic acid residues of the GD3 on the surface of SK-MEL-28 melanoma cells, the neoantigen (modified GD3) formed on the cell surface serves as a target for cytolytic antibodies. Since the specific antibodies are not cross-reactive with unmodified GD3 on the cell surface, this approach, in principle, may enable us to turn on and turn off immune response to this neoantigen by adding or withdrawing N-acylmannosamine precursors during treatment. Consequently, this approach may avoid the risk of a possible autoimmune response (33).
Animals and Cell Lines BALB/c mice (female, 68 weeks), BALB/c nu/nu, and CgFoxNude nude mice (female 6 weeks old) were purchased from Charles River Breeding Laboratories (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) and The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME) and were maintained in our Institutional Animal Facility following the animal care guidelines. SK-MEL-28 and G361 human melanoma cell lines and mouse monoclonal antibody R24 (IgG3 specific to GD3) were purchased from the American Type Culture Collection (Manassas, VA).
Chemicals and Reagents
Synthesis of Modified GD3 Tetrasaccharide-KLH Conjugates
N-Deacetylation of GD3 TetrasaccharideA solution of GD3Ac tetrasaccharide (50 mg) in 2 N NaOH (10 mg/ml) was heated at 100 °C for 4 h. After cooling, the solution was carefully neutralized by the addition of 2 N HCl and purified by passage through a Bio-Gel P-6 column, using 0.03 M NH4HCO3 as eluent. The product obtained after lyophilization was an amorphous solid in almost quantitative yield. N-Acylation of N-Deacetylated GD3 TetrasaccharideTo a solution of N-deacetylated GD3 tetrasaccharide (5 mg) in 5% Na2CO3 (2.5 ml), propionic anhydride at room temperature (10 µl, three times with 10-min intervals) was added with vigorous stirring. After 30 min, the mixture was adjusted to pH 11.0 by the addition of 2 N NaOH and kept for 1 h. The solution was then adjusted to pH 8.0 by the addition of 0.5 N HCl. Purification on a Sephadex G-10 column using water as eluent afforded, after lyophilization, GD3Pr tetrasaccharide as an amorphous solid in almost quantitative yield. To a solution of N-deacetylated GD3 tetrasaccharide (5 mg) in a mixture of 5% Na2CO3 (2.5 ml) and diethyl ether (2.5 ml), butyric anhydride (30 µl) or benzoyl chloride (30 µl) at room temperature was added with vigorous stirring. After 30 min the organic layer was removed, and the aqueous solution was adjusted to pH 11.0 by the addition of 2 N NaOH and kept for 1 h. The solution was then adjusted to pH 8.0 by 0.5 N HCl and passed through a Sephadex G-10 column, using water as eluent. The respective products, GD3Bu and GD3Bz tetrasaccharides, were obtained after lyophilization as amorphous solids in almost quantitative yields.
Reduction of Azido Group to Amine and Introduction of MaleimideA solution of the above tetrasaccharides (5 mg each) in water (0.5 ml) was subjected to catalytic (Pd/C) hydrogenation (30 pounds/square inch) for 2 h, respectively. The filtrate was passed through a Sephadex G-10 column, using water as eluent. The lyophilized products (amines) were dissolved in 20 mM phosphate buffer (2 ml, pH 7.2) and mixed with N-( Conjugation to KLHA solution of thiolated KLH (37, 38) (3 mg) in 50 mM phosphate buffer with 1 mM EDTA (pH 7.5, 1 ml) was mixed with the maleimide-containing GD3 analogs (34 mg) prepared above. The reaction mixture was incubated at room temperature for 6 h. Purification on a Bio-Gel A-0.5 column (1.6 x 30 cm), eluted with PBS buffer (pH 7.1), gave the respective conjugates, GD3Ac-KLH, GD3Pr-KLH, GD3Bu-KLH, and GD3Bz-KLH, in a volume of about 67 ml. Sialic acid and protein contents were estimated using the resorcinol method (39) and the BCA (Pierce) protein assay. Each KLH molecule carried about 300460 GD3 tetrasaccharide chains (see Table II). The respective BSA conjugates containing 511 GD3 tetrasaccharides were prepared using the same procedure.
Immunization Schedule
Determination of Antibody Titers by ELISA
Cell Culture Conditions
Bioengineering GD3 on SK-MEL-28 Cell Surface and Flow Cytometric Assays
GD3 Extraction and Mass Spectroscopic (MS) Analysis
Monoclonal Antibody Production
Inhibition ELISA
Expression of Modified GD3 on SK-MEL-28 in Vivo
CDC-mediated Antibodies
Evaluation of mAb against Established Tumors
Evaluation of mAb against Tumor Grafting
Synthesis of GD3 Tetrasaccharide-KLH Glycoconjugates Chemical syntheses of GD3 have been reported previously (4447). However, large scale synthesis of the GD3 tetrasaccharide is still difficult to achieve. Recently, a bi-functional sialyltransferase from Campylobacter jejuni, which transfers sialic acid to both 3-O-Gal and 8-O-NeuAc, was cloned and expressed (35). We used this enzyme successfully for the synthesis of disialolactoside (GD3 tetrasaccharide) on a 200-mg scale. The main by-product was sialolactoside (GM3 trisaccharide), which was separated from disialolactoside by a Bio-Gel P-6 column eluted with 0.03 M NH4HCO3. Modified disialolactosides in which the N-acetyl groups of sialic acids were replaced by respective N-propionyl, N-butyryl, and N-benzoyl groups were derived in two steps, namely removal of N-Ac by base treatment and quantitative re-N-acylation with either propionyl and butyryl anhydride or benzoyl chloride. Consequently, four disialolactosides, GD3Ac, GD3Pr, GD3Bu, and GD3Bz tetrasaccharides, were obtained with a -linked 3-azidopropyl spacer. The spectroscopic data of GD3Ac tetrasaccharide are listed in Table I. Catalytic reduction of the azido groups generated their respective amines quantitatively, which were subsequently converted to maleimide-containing disialolactosides as indicated by a singlet resonance at H 6.8 ppm in their 1H NMR spectra. After reaction of the latter with thiolated KLH, four glycoconjugates, GD3Ac-KLH, GD3Pr-KLH, GD3Bu-KLH, and GD3Bz-KLH, were obtained (see Fig. 1). The ratios of disialolactoside to KLH were between 300 and 460 based on sialic acid analysis (39) and protein assay (see Table II). By using the same procedures, four respective BSA conjugates were also prepared with 511 disialolactosides attached to each BSA molecule.
ImmunizationsBALB/c mice were immunized and boosted three times weekly with GD3Ac-KLH, GD3Pr-KLH, GD3Bu-KLH, and GD3Bz-KLH conjugates. Ten days after the last boost (day 31), whole serum was analyzed by ELISA using GD3Ac-BSA, GD3Pr-BSA, GD3Bu-BSA, and GD3Bz-BSA as coating antigens. The antibody levels, both for IgG and IgM, were determined (see Table III). All four conjugates gave high titers of antibodies. In addition, subtyping analysis revealed that a majority of the specific antibodies was IgG rather than IgM. The GD3Bu-KLH conjugate was the most immunogenic, followed by GD3Pr-KLH, GD3Ac-KLH, and GD3Bz-KLH. The extension of the N-acyl chain seemed to correlate with the increased immunogenicity, except that the N-benzoylated derivative was the least immunogenic. Since the BSA conjugates used in ELISA shared the same linkage structure with the KLH conjugates, there was a possibility that antibodies to the linkage structure might also be raised, which could contribute in part to the total antibody titers. Therefore, we also investigated whether these antisera recognize GD3Ac, GD3Pr, GD3Bu, and GD3Bz expressed on the SK-MEL-28 cell surface as well as their cross-reactivity with native cell surface GD3.
Biochemical Engineering of SK-MEL-28 Melanoma Cells in VitroSK-MEL-28 and G361 cells were cultured for 13, 6, or 10 days in standard medium supplemented with three different concentrations (1, 3, and 5 mg/ml) of ManNAc, ManNPr, Man-NBu, and ManNBz. The expression of modified GD3 was evaluated by flow cytometric analysis using diluted sera raised against the GD3 tetrasaccharide-KLH conjugates. SK-MEL-28 cells cultured in the presence of the precursors exhibited no detectable reactivity with pre-immunization sera from mice. When grown in standard medium without precursors, SK-MEL-28 cells exhibited only background fluorescence staining after treatment with dilutions of anti-GD3Pr (Bu and Bz) sera (1:100). However, cells cultured in the presence of ManNPr, ManNBu, or ManNBz exhibited a marked increase in the immunoreactivity with their respective anti-GD3Pr, anti-GD3Bu, and anti-GD3Bz sera (Fig. 2a). No increase in reactivity to the anti-GD3Ac serum was observed when ManNAc was added to the medium. Precursors at a concentration of 1 mg/ml resulted in the expression of modified GD3 within 24 h, and increased precursor concentration (3 and 5 mg/ml) did not advance further expression (Fig. 2a). In addition, incubations of SK-MEL-28 cells with precursors (ManNBu and ManNBz) for 13, 6, or even 10 days did not significantly change the expression of GD3Bu and GD3Bz (Fig. 2b). After the removal of precursors from the growth medium, the modified GD3 was slowly replaced by GD3, yet the cells were still found to express GD3Bu after 5 days without ManNBu (Fig. 2c). Similar results were also observed with G361 cells (data not shown).
Cross-reactivity between the above antisera and the cell surface GD3Bu and GD3Ac of SK-MEL-28 cells was also analyzed. Cell surface GD3Bu and anti-GD3Pr sera were cross-reactive as well as GD3Bu and anti-GD3Bz sera (Fig. 3a), but no cross-reactivity was observed between the cell surface GD3Ac and anti-GD3Pr, anti-GD3Bu, or anti-GD3Bz sera (Fig. 3b). In these experiments mAb R24, a murine IgG3 antibody specific for GD3 with the terminal N-Ac disialyl residues (48), was used to assess the expression of surface GD3 on SK-MEL-28 cells incubated with or without precursors. The surface GD3 expression was significantly suppressed and replaced by modified GD3 when the cells were treated with precursors (Fig. 3).
Spectroscopic Confirmation of Modified GD3 Expression The biochemical engineering of GD3Bu on the SK-MEL-28 cell surface in the presence of ManNBu was further confirmed by MS spectroscopic analysis. The glycolipids extracted from SK-MEL-28 cells were subjected to capillary electrophoresis, and the negatively charged glycolipids were analyzed by electrospray-MS. By using the fragment ion (m/z 290 for NeuAc and 318 for NeuBu) scan technique, GD3 was found to be a dominant ganglioside on the SK-MEL-28 cells with a molecular weight of 1556 based on the observation of a double negative charged ion at m/z 777 (Fig. 4a). The fragmentation derived from MS-MS analysis confirmed the GD3 structure and the ceramide composition (m/z 647), which were in agreement with previous reports (49, 50). When ManNBu was added to the growth medium at the concentrations of 1, 3, and 5 mg/ml, GD3Bu was spontaneously expressed, which was detected in the MS analysis as a major component (m/z 805, a double negative charged ion); an increase of m/z 28 from 777 or a 56-Da difference in molecular mass represents the difference in molecular mass between GD3Bu and GD3Ac (Fig. 4b). Unmodified GD3 and mono-N-Bu GD3 (m/z 777 or 791) were not detected in the glycolipid extraction under the above ManNBu concentrations by MS analysis (data not shown). Therefore, we assume that the modified GD3 molecules are highly expressed on the cell surface.
Production of Monoclonal AntibodiesImmunization of mice with glycoconjugated GD3Bu-KLH, fusion, and initial screening by ELISA against GD3Bu-BSA gave hybridomas 2A (IgG2a) and 1 (IgG1). After re-cloning by limiting dilution, each culture supernatant was tested by ELISA against the following glycoconjugates as antigens: GM3-BSA, GD3Ac-BSA, GD3Pr-BSA, GD3Bu-BSA, and GD3Bz-BSA. mAb 1 only reacted with GD3Bu-BSA, whereas mAb 2A bound to both GD3Pr-BSA and GD3Bu-BSA (Fig. 5c). Neither mAbs were reactive with SK-MEL-28 or Bz-SK-MEL-28 cells by flow cytometry, but both reacted with Bu-SK-MEL-28 cells and Pr-SK-MEL-28 cells (Fig. 5, a and b). To confirm further the epitope specificity of mAbs 2A and 1, ELISA inhibition was performed with GD3Bu-BSA glycoconjugate as coating antigen by using four disialolactosides as inhibitors (GD3Ac, GD3Pr, GD3Bu, and GD3Bz). Only GD3Bu disialolactoside was able to inhibit the binding of both mAbs to the antigen. This result indicates that N-butyryl group(s) are involved in the binding, but detailed structural parameters of the epitope have yet to be established. Because of its better ability to bind complement, mAb 2A (IgG2a) was selected for the further experiments.
In Vitro Anti-tumor Effects (CDC Mediated by Monoclonal Antibody 2A)We investigated whether the mAb 2A and the anti-GD3Bu serum were capable of mediating CDC on SK-MEL-28 cells. Thus, CDC of mAb 2A and anti-GD3Bu serum on SK-MEL-28 cells with and without treatment of ManNBu (1 mg/ml) was examined in the presence of rabbit complement. mAb 2A killed only Bu-SK-MEL-28 cells that were treated with ManNBu in a dose-dependent manner in the range of 0.05100 µg/ml (Fig. 6a). Similar results were also obtained with the anti-GD3Bu serum at various dilutions (1:4001:1600, Fig. 6b). Neither antibody showed any killing effect on SK-MEL-28 cells without precursor treatment.
Expression of Modified GD3 on SK-MEL-28 in VivoAfter administration of ManNBu to nude mice (CgFoxNude) for 2 weeks (5 days/week, 5 mg/mouse), SK-MEL-28 cells from tumors were examined by flow cytometry, and both GD3 and GD3Bu epitopes were detected by mAbs R24 and 2A (Fig. 7). Compared with the expression of modified GD3 in vitro (Fig. 2), the incorporation of GD3Bu epitope in vivo was less effective, but nevertheless it was still sufficient to provide a specific immunotarget.
Anti-tumor Effects in VivoAfter tumors grafted on nude mice had grown to about 10 mm in diameter, mAb 2A in combination with ManNBu was able to suppress tumor growth during the 2 weeks of treatment (average V/V0 1.0), but tumors started to grow rapidly after treatment was withdrawn (data not shown). In the control group, tumors in mice treated with mAb 2A alone grew faster (average V/V0 1.4). Flow cytometry analysis of cells from dissected tumors after the treatment of mAb2A/ManNBu showed reactivity only to R24 but not mAb 2A (data not shown). This observation was in direct contrast to the prolonged expression of modified GD3 observed in SK-MEL-28 cells in vitro. Thus this mAb/precursor combination had a limited effect in controlling tumor growth, but the antibodies were obviously not effective in removing solid tumors. Further experiments designed for early intervention were more successful. Without any treatment, all 10 nude mice after transplantation of SK-MEL-28 cells developed solid tumors within 30 days that grew to about 47 mm in diameter after 45 days. Whereas subcutaneous injection, 3 days after tumor cell transplantation for 2 weeks (5 times/week), of either mAb 2A or ManNBu alone provided some protection (about 30% of mice did not develop solid tumor), the best results were obtained with the combination of both, delivered by either subcutaneous or intraperitoneal routes, that resulted in 90% of mice being free of tumors after 45 days (see Table IV).
Immunotherapy based on carbohydrate antigens for the treatment of cancers has been intensively examined. Although they are self-antigens and the antibodies raised against these antigens may react to normal tissues, such therapy is still a viable option. However, the drawbacks of self-antigen-based vaccines are obvious; poor immunogenicity and potential autoimmune responses are two major concerns (33). By biochemically engineering cell surface antigens, specifically the sialic acid-containing antigens, we are able to temporarily remodel the cell surface and render it susceptible to targeted antibody responses. Such antibodies can be elicited by using a glycoconjugate vaccine in which a specifically modified antigen is covalently linked to a protein carrier. In this study, we first synthesized four disialolactoside-KLH conjugates as vaccines in order to raise antibodies against the GD3 and its analogs on the cell surface. Two N-Ac groups of disialolactoside (GD3 tetrasaccharide) were substituted by N-Pr, N-Bu, and N-Bz groups, respectively, in order to optimize their immunogenicities and specificities. In contrast to its human response, GD3 is immunogenic in mice. However, it has been demonstrated that replacement of N-Ac groups of PSA by N-Pr groups overcomes the immune tolerance in animals (51, 52), indicating that a similar modification on GD3 may achieve similar effects in man. As expected GD3Pr-KLH and GD3Bu-KLH were good immunogens, and only a weak cross-reactivity between GD3Pr sera and GD3Bu was observed. The fact that neither of these antisera was cross-reactive with native GD3 confirms our supposition that it is possible to raise antibodies by using structurally modified immunogens to avoid generating autoantibodies. Sub-typing analysis revealed that the majority of the antigen-specific antibodies was of the IgG rather than the IgM subclass, suggesting the effective recruitment of T-helper cells in the induction of the immune response. In order to use these specific antibodies to immunotarget SK-MEL-28 cells, one has to assume that modified GD3 is expressed on the cell surface, and many previous studies have succeeded in modifying cell surface sialic acids by the introduction of chemically modified precursors in the biosynthetic pathway (53). Thus, SK-MEL-28 cells treated with exogenous precursors, such as ManNPr, ManNBu, and ManNBz, express the corresponding N-acyl-modified sialic acid residues on the cell surfaces. Specific modifications of GD3 on the cells were identified by strong binding to their homologously modified N-acyl GD3-conjugate antisera.
Two parameters were considered in the remodeling of cell surface antigens by using metabolic precursors: 1) the incorporation efficiency, and 2) the metabolic rate. The effective expression of modified GD3 occurred at 1 mg/ml of precursor, and the fact that increasing precursor concentration did not improve the expression suggests that N-acyl mannosamines in the N-acyl sialic acid biosynthesis can be transferred efficiently by the sialyltransferases to lactosyl ceramide, forming modified GD3. The low concentration of precursor required and the relatively fast expression of modified GD3 (less than 24 h) in comparison with previous results on the sialic acid engineering of PSA (32) may add therapeutic advantages in clinical settings. Moreover, in comparison to the cell surface PSA antigen, the turnover rate of cell surface GD3 was slow. GD3Bu expression was still detectable on most cells 5 days after removal of ManNBu in vitro, indicating that modified GD3 could be a favorable immunotarget. Although Bertozzi and co-workers (54, 55) observed that ManNBu is able to block the biosynthesis of PSA of neural cell adhesion molecule, its impact on the biosynthesis of GD3 seems less significant. The identification of GD3Bu on Bu-SK-MEL-28 cell surface by flow cytometric and mass spectroscopic (electro-spray-MS) analyses suggests NeuNBu is a good substrate for Although SK-MEL-28 cells expressed the modified GD3 epitope well in vitro, the expression of such an epitope on the tumor surface in vivo is a prerequisite for immunotargeting. Clearly, SK-MEL-28 cells grown in nude mice accepted Man-NBu as a metabolic precursor and incorporated it into GD3 molecules as evidenced by flow cytometric analysis on cells obtained from tumors grafted on the nude mice. But although the tumor cells did express GD3Bu, significant amounts of GD3 still remained on the cell surface. These results could be attributed to an insufficient concentration of precursor and/or that the biosynthesis in vivo favors using ManNAc as substrate. Nevertheless, the successful bioengineering of modified GD3 in vivo does provide a means to target SK-MEL-28 cells for immune destruction. Similar to the function of mAb KM871 reported previously (27), both mAb 2A and GD3Bu antisera were capable of stimulating the complement-mediated lysis of Bu-SK-MEL-28 cells that express GD3Bu, and such CDC activity depended on the mAb and antibody concentrations. Without modification, SK-MEL-28 cells were affected by neither mAb 2A nor GD3Bu antiserum, which further indicates that expression of GD3Bu may serve as a trigger (switch) for the immune response. This result is significant because we may be able to achieve augmentation of immunogenicity without risk of evoking the autoantibodies, which has always been a dilemma in the use of common cancer vaccines. Unfortunately, there are other limitations to the in vivo application of this technology when it was shown that the treatment of mice having established tumors, with mAb 2A and ManNBu, could arrest further tumor growth but not eliminate the tumor. Although disappointing, our results are not surprising because Livingston and co-workers (9, 12) also obtained similar results with GD2 antibodies, whereby the homologous antibodies were only able to remove microtumors and prevent the metastasis but not remove solid tumors. However, when the above treatment was applied to mice soon after tumor grafting, it was able to prevent establishment of the tumor, providing evidence that an active vaccination strategy using the GD3Bu-KLH conjugate in conjunction with ManNBu might be applicable to the prevention of tumor metastasis. Unfortunately, the nude mouse model that we employed was not a good model to further investigate the potential of this strategy. Examination of tumor tissues from large size tumors after the above treatment failed to identify GD3Bu-expressing tumor cells by flow cytometric analysis. This observation indicates the limitation of immunotargeting a single epitope, because it is possible that sub-populations of tumor cells without this epitope could overgrow those with it and thus render the treatment ineffective. Similarly, it is known that tumors can down-regulate specific antigens such as sialyl Lewisx (57), and it is of interest to note that the down-regulation of GD3 expression has also been implicated in the reduction of both cellular proliferation and metastasis of neuroblastoma F-11 cells in animals (5860). In conclusion, we have demonstrated that synthetic disialolactoside conjugates can accurately imitate homologous epitopes expressed on the cell surface. The fact that no cross-reactivity was observed between SK-MEL-28 cells and GD3Bu-KLH antiserum indicates that the immunodominant epitope should minimize the risk of unwanted autoimmune responses. We have also demonstrated that GD3Bu-specific antibodies became potent cytotoxic reagents against Bu-SK-MEL-28 cells when GD3Bu molecules were incorporated. Studies in vivo indicated that the treatment using a combination of precursor and specific antibodies can prevent mice from tumor grafting but was ineffective for eliminating solid tumors.
* This is National Research Council of Canada Publication Number 42490. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 The abbreviations used are: KLH, keyhole limpet hemocyanin; GD3,
We thank Dr. Jianjun Li and Don Krajcarsky for MS analysis and Marie-France Karwaski for the purification of enzymes.
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