Targeting and killing glioblastoma with monoclonal antibody to O-acetyl GD2 ganglioside.

There are still unmet medical needs in the treatment of glioblastoma, the most common and the most aggressive glioma of all brain tumors. Here, we found that O-acetyl GD2 is expressed in surgically resected human glioblastoma tissue. In addition, we demonstrated that 8B6 monoclonal antibody specific for O-acetylat GD2 could effectively inhibit glioblastoma cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Taken together, these results indicate that O-acetylated GD2 represents a novel antigen for immunotherapeutic-based treatment of high-grade gliomas.