Neutral
glycolipids (NGL) were isolated and quantitated in 98 primary human
brain tumors; 19 low grade
astrocytomas (LGA), 12
anaplastic astrocytomas (AA), 37 high grade
astrocytomas (HGA), 18 oligodendroglial
tumors, and 12
primitive neuroectodermal tumors (
PNET). In 38 of these, the nature of the
hexose in the cerebroside was determined using immunothin-layer chromatographic techniques.
Galactosylceramide (GalCer) was the major
ceramide monohexoside (CMH), and glucosylcerebroside never comprised more than 6% of this fraction in any
tumor type. Furthermore, there was no correlation between the proportion of glucosylcerebroside and histological diagnosis. AA had the most characteristic neutral
glycolipid pattern, with high levels of total
lipid, total neutral
glycolipid, CMH, and
ceramide dihexoside (CDH) but low water contents. Consistent with this
glycolipid composition is the finding that AA usually had neither
ceramide trihexoside (CTH) nor globoside.
Oligodendrogliomas were somewhat similar to AA in having high levels of CMH and infrequently having CTH or globoside. However,
oligodendrogliomas had low water and total
lipid contents.
PNET had low levels of total
lipid, total NGL, and CMH, but frequently contained CTH and globoside. LGA had high water contents but low levels of total
lipid and CMH. HGA tended to have intermediate levels of almost all constituents analyzed, probably reflecting the pronounced cellular heterogeneity of these
tumors. The frequent presence of GalCer in
astrocytomas raises the possibility that some of these contain a population of cells that are related to the oligodendroglial lineage. However, the low amounts of GalCer and infrequent presence of
sulfatide in
PNET is consistent with their lack of differentiation toward oligodendrocytes. It will be of interest to determine if the neutral
glycolipid patterns reported here will correlate with patient survival and be of prognostic significance.