The acidic
glycosphingolipid composition of human uterine endometrial
adenocarcinoma was compared with those of normal uterine endometrium at the proliferative and the secretory phases. Upon chemical composition analysis, no significant transformation-associated change of these
glycolipids was observed. However, when
cancer cells from the patients with human uterine endometrial
adenocarcinoma were transferred to culture, the composition of
glycosphingolipids, particularly
sulfoglycosphingolipids, was significantly altered after the 70th doubling time. I3SO3-GalCer, which was contained in the original tissues of uterine endometrial
adenocarcinomas, disappeared completely from the cultured cells at the 70th doubling time, whereas II3SO3-LacCer and ganglio series
sulfoglycosphingolipids, which were originally contained in a trace amount or not present at all in the
cancer tissues, became the major components in the total
acidic glycosphingolipids in the cultured cells. Also, among cell lines established from several gynecological
cancers, which include uterine cervical
squamous carcinoma, uterine endometrial
adenocarcinoma, ovarian clear cell
carcinoma,
choriocarcinoma, uterine
sarcoma, ovarian
sarcoma, and vulvar
melanoma, only those cells derived from uterine endometrial
adenocarcinoma expressed II3SO3-LacCer and ganglio series
sulfoglycosphingolipids and the synthetic activities of these
sulfoglycolipids, indicating that uterine endometrial
adenocarcinoma cells characteristically lose the
sulfotransferase to GalCer and acquire the
sulfotransferase to LacCer after being transferred to culture in vitro. Thus, the unique
sulfoglycosphingolipids and
sulfotransferase are useful markers for the characterization of uterine endometrial
adenocarcinoma among human gynecological
cancers.