Demonstration of complex antigenic heterogeneity in a human glioma cell line and eight derived clones by specific monoclonal antibodies.

We have investigated the antigenic heterogeneity of human glioma cells and its correlation with other parameters of tumor cell heterogeneity (karyotype, 2':3' cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphohydrolase expression, in vitro morphology) using the established human glioma cell line D-54 MG and eight single-cell-derived clones. The panel of antibodies used included 3 previously described heterologous sera raised against human gliomas and lamb oligodendroglia and 10 monoclonal antibodies with demonstrated reactivity for tumors of neuroectodermal origin, human fetal tissue, or human Thy-1. Antigen expression was determined by cell surface radioimmunoassay and peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunohistology. The use of a monoclonal antibody panel composed of ten reagents of varied specificity resulted in the demonstration of highly variable and complex antigenic patterns on the cell surfaces of cloned subpopulations of the human glioma cell line D-54 MG. Only one antigen, human Thy-1, was present on the parent line and all clones; the remaining nine antigens exhibited a distribution unrelated to other predictive parameters of genotypic or phenotypic heterogeneity such as karyotype, 2':3' cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphohydrolase expression, or in vitro morphology. With the exception of clones 3 and 4, which shared a common antigen profile but exhibited distinctly different in vitro morphological patterns, the detected antigenic profile of each clone was distinct, with the proportion of expressed antigens ranging from 2 of 10 (clone 2) to 10 of 10 (clone 1). The demonstration of distinct, selectively maintained cell subpopulations within a human glioma cell line has direct implications for immunotherapeutic designs.