A syngeneic
tumor system in DBA/2 mice consisting of a methyl-
cholanthrene-induced, weakly metastatic
lymphoma, L5178YE (= Eb), its spontaneous strongly metastatic variant, L5178YES (= ESb), and an unrelated,
methylcholanthrene-induced, metastasizing
tumor, MDAY-D2, were used to study the relationship between metastatic behavior and composition of GSLs. The D-1-14C
galactose and D-1-14C
glucosamine-labelled neutral GSL and
gangliosides of these
tumor cells, and additionally ConA-stimulated spleen T cells from normal mice, were analysed by thin-layer chromatography. Unlabelled GSLs of the
tumors were also characterized by (HPLC) after perbenzoylation. Results obtained with the radioactively labelled GSLs correlated with those of the HPLC analysis of unlabelled GSLs. All
tumors contained neutral GSL of the ganglio-series. Weakly metastatic
tumor Eb showed neutral GSL patterns comparable to those from ConA-stimulated spleen cells, whereas strongly metastatic
tumors ESb and MDAY-D2 had an enhanced expression of
lactosylceramide.
Gangliosides of metastatic ESb and MDAY-D2 had a higher degree of polarity than those of weakly metastatic Eb. Eb cells expressed primarily GM1. Metastasizing ESb and MDAY-D2 had significantly higher amounts of GM3, GM2 and GD1a. An unusual
ganglioside, IV3GalNAc-GM1, was found in MDAY-D2 cells and ConA blasts. When the extent of label was compared in neutral GSLs and
gangliosides, metastasizing ESb and MDAY-D2 were more heavily labelled in the
ganglioside fraction (62%, 58%) than Eb (39%). ESb and MDAY-D2 also contained larger amounts of
gangliosides than Eb.