Glycolipids in a cultured human
teratocarcinoma cell line (2102Ep) were investigated. The major
glycolipids in these cells are globoseries
glycolipids having the following structures: (formula; see text) Synthesis of these structures by serial addition of
galactose,
fucose, and
N-acetylneuraminic acid to globoside (Gb4) in this
teratocarcinoma is obvious, although further elongation of Gb4 in human cells and tissues has not been previously found with the exception of the presence of a small quantity of
Forssman glycolipid in some tissues in the human population (Fs+ group) and in some human
cancers. The latter four
glycolipids (b-e), with the common internal structure R leads to 3GalNAc beta 1 leads to 3Gal alpha 1 leads to 4R', were all reactive to a
monoclonal antibody directed to the 4- to 8-cell stage of murine embryos, known as the
stage-specific embryonic antigen 3 (SSEA-3 (Shevinsky, L. H., Knowles, B. B., Damjanov, I., and Solter, D. (1982) Cell 30, 697-705]; structure (c) showed the strongest reactivity. These findings, together with the demonstration of the
glycolipid nature of
SSEA-1 antigen (Kannagi, R., Nudelman, E., Levery, S. B., and Hakomori, S. (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 14865-14874), indicate that cell surface
glycolipids play significant roles as
differentiation antigens during the course of embryogenesis.