Tumor‐specific membrane antigens in established cell lines from gliomas

Abstract

Rabbits were immunized with lyophilized glioblastoma multiforme tissue from one tumor. After 4 months, when the animals suffered from severe encephalomyelitis, their sera were collected and absorbed with lyophilized human serum, and lung, liver, kidney, placenta, and brain, as well as fresh HeLa cells, until they reacted only with cell lines cultured from malignant gliomas in indirect immunofluorescence tests. The immunofluorescent staining of the glioma cell lines revealed three distinct patterns of membrane fluorescence. In some lines a delicate segmentary type of fluorescence was seen only at the cell margin; others showed a coarse brush‐like pattern. One glioma line had a fine fibrillary membrane fluorescence which extended to the thinnest dendritic extensions, characteristic of this line. Each line displayed only one and always the same type of fluorescence in repeated tests and different passages in vitro. In a coded series of 23 cell lines derived from different normal and neoplastic tissues, all of the 15 glioma lines included were correctly identified by their tumor‐specific membrane antigens. The nature of the glioma‐specific antigens as compared with tumor‐specific antigens within other histogenetic groups of neoplasms is discussed. Copyright © 1974 American Cancer Society