GD2 ganglioside-specific monoclonal antibody reacts with murine cytotoxic T lymphocytes reactive with FBL-3N erythroleukaemia.

Ganglioside expression on cytotoxic T lymphocytes induced against the mouse erythroleukaemia line FBL-3N, was analysed, compared with that of naive T lymphocytes in the thymus, lymph nodes and spleen. Although normal uncultured and cultured T lymphocytes expressed no GD2, GD3 or GM2 gangliosides, cytotoxic T cells with CD4+CD8-, CD4-CD8+, and CD4-CD8- phenotypes reacted with anti-GD2 monoclonal antibody with various intensities. The reactivity with anti-GD2 was associated with the intensity of cytotoxic activity as analysed using cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) clones established from the bulk CTLs of each phenotype. An increase of the mRNA expression of GM2/GD2 synthase gene was demonstrated by Northern blot hybridization using RNA extracted from thymocytes, spleen cells, Con A-treated spleen cells and various types of CTL cells. These results indicated that GD2 ganglioside expression might be associated with the functional differentiation of murine T lymphocytes.