Production of monoclonal antibodies specific for ganglioside GD3.

Four kinds of anti-GD3 monoclonal antibodies, DSG-1, -2, -3, and -4, of the IgM class were obtained by the immunization of BALB/c mice with enzootic bovine leukosis tumor tissue-derived ganglioside GD3 inserted into liposomes with Salmonella minnesota R595 lipopolysaccharides. The specificities of the monoclonal antibodies obtained were defined by complement-dependent liposome immune lysis assay and by enzyme immunostaining on thin-layer chromatography. The reactivities of the monoclonal antibodies obtained to four ganglioside GD3 variants GD3(NeuAc-NeuAc), GD3(NeuAc-NeuGc), GD3(NeuGc-NeuAc), and GD3(NeuGc-NeuGc)] were tested. All of the monoclonal antibodies were found to react with GD3(NeuAc-NeuAc) and GD3(NeuAc-NeuGc) but not with GD3(NeuGc-NeuAc) or GD3(NeuGc-NeuGc). Furthermore, various purified glycosphingolipids were used to determine the specificity of these monoclonal antibodies. All 4 antibodies reacted only with ganglioside GD3 GD3(NeuAc-NeuAc) and GD3(NeuAc-NeuGc)], but not with several gangliosides linking the GalNAc, Gal beta 1-3GalNAc, NeuAc alpha 2-3Gal beta 1-3GalNAc, or NeuAc alpha 2-8NeuAc alpha 2-3Gal beta 1-3GalNAc residue to the Gal moiety of ganglioside GD3 (GD2, GD1b, GT1b, or GQ1b, respectively), ganglioside GT1a having the same terminal NeuAc alpha 2-8NeuAc alpha 2-3Gal residue as ganglioside GD3, other gangliosides, and neutral glycosphingolipids. These findings suggest that the 4 monoclonal antibodies obtained may be specific for the epitope of NeuAc-alpha 2-8Sia alpha 2-3Gal beta 1-4Glc residue of ganglioside GD3.