[Expression of ganglioside GD2 on colorectal adenocarcinoma cells]

GD2-targeting therapy: a comparative analysis of approaches and promising directions

Disialoganglioside GD2 is a promising target for immunotherapy with expression primarily restricted to neuroectodermal and epithelial tumor cells. Although its role in the maintenance and repair of neural tissue is well-established, its functions during normal organism development remain understudied. Meanwhile, studies have shown that GD2 plays an important role in tumorigenesis. Its functions include proliferation, invasion, motility, and metastasis, and its high expression and ability to transform the tumor microenvironment may be associated with a malignant phenotype. Structurally, GD2 is a glycosphingolipid that is stably expressed on the surface of tumor cells, making it a suitable candidate for targeting by antibodies or chimeric antigen receptors. Based on mouse monoclonal antibodies, chimeric and humanized antibodies and their combinations with cytokines, toxins, drugs, radionuclides, nanoparticles as well as chimeric antigen receptor have been developed. Furthermore, vaccines and photoimmunotherapy are being used to treat GD2-positive tumors, and GD2 aptamers can be used for targeting. In the field of cell therapy, allogeneic immunocompetent cells are also being utilized to enhance GD2 therapy. Efforts are currently being made to optimize the chimeric antigen receptor by modifying its design or by transducing not only αβ T cells, but also γδ T cells, NK cells, NKT cells, and macrophages. In addition, immunotherapy can combine both diagnostic and therapeutic methods, allowing for early detection of disease and minimal residual disease. This review discusses each immunotherapy method and strategy, its advantages and disadvantages, and highlights future directions for GD2 therapy.

The biological role and immunotherapy of gangliosides and GD3 synthase in cancers

Gangliosides are a large subfamily of glycosphingolipids that broadly exist in the nervous system and interact with signaling molecules in the lipid rafts. GD3 and GD2 are two types of disialogangliosides (GDs) that include two sialic acid residues. The expression of GD3 and GD2 in various cancers is mostly upregulated and is involved in tumor proliferation, invasion, metastasis, and immune responses. GD3 synthase (GD3S, ST8SiaI), a subclass of sialyltransferases, regulates the biosynthesis of GD3 and GD2. GD3S is also upregulated in most tumors and plays an important role in the development and progression of tumors. Many clinical trials targeting GD2 are ongoing and various immunotherapy studies targeting gangliosides and GD3S are gradually attracting much interest and attention. This review summarizes the function, molecular mechanisms, and ongoing clinical applications of GD3, GD2, and GD3S in abundant types of tumors, which aims to provide novel targets for future cancer therapy.

RNA Sequencing-Based Identification of Ganglioside GD2-Positive Cancer Phenotype

The tumor-associated ganglioside GD2 represents an attractive target for cancer immunotherapy. GD2-positive tumors are more responsive to such targeted therapy, and new methods are needed for the screening of GD2 molecular tumor phenotypes. In this work, we built a gene expression-based binary classifier predicting the GD2-positive tumor phenotypes. To this end, we compared RNA sequencing data from human tumor biopsy material from experimental samples and public databases as well as from GD2-positive and GD2-negative cancer cell lines, for expression levels of genes encoding enzymes involved in ganglioside biosynthesis. We identified a 2-gene expression signature combining ganglioside synthase genes ST8SIA1 and B4GALNT1 that serves as a more efficient predictor of GD2-positive phenotype (Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC) 0.32, 0.88, and 0.98 in three independent comparisons) compared to the individual ganglioside biosynthesis genes (MCC 0.02-0.32, 0.1-0.75, and 0.04-1 for the same independent comparisons). No individual gene showed a higher MCC score than the expression signature MCC score in two or more comparisons. Our diagnostic approach can hopefully be applied for pan-cancer prediction of GD2 phenotypes using gene expression data.