Heterogeneity and modulation of tumor-associated antigens in human glioblastoma cell lines

Seven human glioblastoma cell lines established in vitro from primary tumor explants were studied. A marked heterogeneity of glial fibrillary acidic protein was observed whereas vimentin was uniformly expressed by all cell lines. Indirect immunofluorescence and flow cytofluorometry revealed a heterogeneous distribution of surface GE 2 and CG 12 tumor-associated antigens (TAA's): three cell lines were positive (greater than 69% TAA-positive cells) and three cell lines were negative (less than 9% TAA-positive cells). One cell line (Hu 228) was moderately positive at early culture passages and subsequently acquired a TAA-negative phenotype. The difference in the relative amounts of surface TAA's of the three positive cell lines was less than twofold. In spite of the heterogeneous distribution of surface TAA's, all cell lines exhibited considerable amounts of intracellular TAA. Treatment with phorbol esters and density-dependent growth arrest decreased the percentage of the TAA-positive cells and the amount of cell-surface TAA's in one cell line (Hu 195). Interferon-gamma treatment in vitro increased the percentage of CG 12-positive cells by 12% and the amount of cell-surface CG 12 antigens by 38% as compared to untreated cells. The percentage of TAA-positive cells among phorbol ester-treated cells of the Hu 195 cell line was lowest 48 hours after treatment, but returned to normal values within the next 48 hours. Reduction of 3H-thymidine incorporation preceded the decrease in number of TAA-positive cells by about 18 hours. Two-color fluorescence analysis performed in positive cell lines for simultaneous determination of surface TAA's and deoxyribonucleic acid content or reactivity with the proliferation-associated Ki67 intracellular marker indicated that GE 2 and CG 12 antigens are expressed preferentially by actively proliferating glioma cells. The results of this study indicate the existence of two different phenotypes in cultured human glioblastoma cells: surface TAA-positive/cytosol TAA-positive and surface TAA-negative/cytosol TAA-positive cell populations. In addition, modulation of TAA expression was dependent on the cell-cycle differentiation stage, culture conditions, and proliferative state of the cells.