Antigenic phenotypes of cultured malignant astrocytomas: identification of lineage-consistent, lineage-independent and putative tumor-restricted antigenic expression.

The treatment of CNS neoplasms with monoclonal antibody-mediated immunotherapy optimally requires the identification of tumor restricted cell surface antigens. However, little is known regarding the antigenic phenotype(s) of malignant astrocytomas. The interrelated expression of four neuroectodermal tumor antigens, CNT/11, AJ8, A010 and CNT/2, has been studied in cultured malignant gliomas and correlated with anchorage independent growth, morphology, glial fibrillary acidic protein, and the surface expression of other antigens. Many of these latter antigens have been reported to be expressed by specific fetal and differentiated adult cell lineages or tissues, as well as certain classes of malignant tumors. The tumor-associated expression of these antigens may be broadly classified as lineage-consistent, lineage-independent or putatively tumor-restricted. Malignant glioma tumor antigenic heterogeneity represents the expression of neuroectodermal and non-neuroectodermal cell surface markers. The importance of this observation is 2-fold. Lineage-independent antigen expression may be an indication of altered genome regulatory processes within tumor cells, and thus reflect the degree of anaplasia. The identification of lineage-consistent and lineage-independent tumor associated antigens may contribute to the selection of "target" antigens and the prediction of toxicity for monoclonal antibody mediated immunotherapy.