Gangliosides of human acute leukemia cells.

We characterized the gangliosides from cells of eight patients with different forms of acute leukemia (four lymphoblastic, four nonlymphoblastic) by thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography combined with glycosidase treatment. Our analysis indicated both quantitative and qualitative differences between the gangliosides of acute leukemia and those of normal leukocytes: 1, the absolute amount of ganglioside was decreased in the acute leukemia cells; 2, in general, acute leukemias had a more simplified ganglioside pattern in that they contained a greater proportion of the short-chain ganglioside, II3NeuAc-LacCer (GM#); 3, all of the acute leukemia cells contained reduced quantities of the ganglioside N-acetylneuraminosyl-lactotriaosylceramide, a compound previously found only in normal leukocytes; and 4, a disialylated ganglioside, II3(NeuAc)2-LacCer (GD3), which is not found in normal leukocytes, was isolated from the cells of one patient with acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia. These findings demonstrate important differences between the gangliosides of acute leukemia cells and normal leukocytes.