Detection of gangliotriaose-series glycosphingolipids in serum of cord blood and patients with neuroblastoma by a sensitive TLC/enzyme-immunostaining method.

Concentration of gangliotriaose-series glycosphingolipids, including GA2, GM2, GD2 and GT2, was measured in human sera by a thin-layer chromatography/enzyme-immunostaining method. By this method, as little as 5-10 ng/ml of these glycolipids in serum could be determined simultaneously. Although GD2 ganglioside could be consistently detected in normal cord blood (1-2 ng/ml of serum), the ganglioside was never detected in normal adult serum. However, the same ganglioside was found to be present in large quantity in preoperative sera of 6/9 patients with neuroblastomas (25-658 ng/ml of serum). In addition to GD2, gangliosides GM2 and GA2 increased concomitantly than usual. It is concluded that this highly sensitive quantification of the tumor-associated glycolipids circulating in serum of neuroblastoma patients could be useful in their diagnosis.