Human cancer-associated gangliosides defined by a monoclonal antibody (IB9) directed to sialosyl alpha 2 leads to 6 galactosyl residue: a preliminary note.

A new monoclonal antibody (IB9) was prepared by hybridoma technique directed specifically to sialosyl alpha 2 leads to 6 galactosyl residue. With this reagent, accumulation of two major gangliosides in human colonic and liver adenocarcinoma has been detected, and these gangliosides were isolated and characterized as structures A and B (below). Another ganglioside with a ceramide nonasaccharide structure, which reacted to anti-X-hapten antibody after desialylation, was also isolated and partially characterized. (formula; see text) These gangliosides were absent or present in very small quantity in normal tissue and may represent human cancer-associated markers.