Reactivity of a mouse/human chimeric anti-GM2 antibody KM966 with brain tumors.

With the aim of investigating the passive immunotherapy of brain tumors, we examined the binding of a mouse/human chimeric anti-ganglioside GM2 antibody KM966 to various organs and brain tumors. Frozen sections of 51 surgically resected brain tumors were stained with antibody KM966. Fourteen gliomas out of 16 were stained positively with antibody KM966. Eleven positive sections demonstrated homogenous staining. No specific binding to normal gray matter and white matter was observed. Some cases of meningiomas, neurinomas and metastatic brain tumors were stained with KM966 but with less frequency and intensity than gliomas. In addition, KM966 demonstrated strong antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity against human malignant glioma cells. These results showed that antibody KM966 will be useful for passive immunotherapy of malignant gliomas.