Expression of Ganglioside GD2 on Colorectal Adenocarcinoma Cells

The expression of ganglioside GD2 on the cell lines of colorectal adenocarcinoma HT29 and CaCo-2, as well as on the tumor tissue samples of patients with colorectal cancer was analyzed by flow cytometry. The marker was found on EpCAM-positive tumor cell samples from 6 of 12 patients but not on the HT29 and CaCo-2 cell lines. GD2 expression was not associated with a cancer stem cell subpopulation as its expression level was similar on both CD133-positive and CD133-negative tumor cells. Thus, the presence of ganglioside GD2 was found for the first time on colorectal adenocarcinoma cells. This finding opens new opportunities for targeted therapy in the treatment of this disease.