The ganglioside, GD2, as a circulating tumor biomarker for neuroblastoma

Background: GD2 is a ganglioside that is ubiquitously expressed in the plasma membrane of neuroblastoma and is shed into the circulation. Procedure: GD2 was measured with a high-pressure liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry assay in serum or plasma from 40 children without cancer (controls) and in biobanked samples from 128 (73 high-risk) children with neuroblastic tumors at diagnosis, 56 children with relapsed neuroblastoma, 14 children with high-risk neuroblastoma after treatment, and 8 to 12 children each with 10 other common childhood cancers at diagnosis. Results: The C18 (18 carbon fatty acid) lipoform was the predominant circulating form of GD2 in controls and in patients with neuroblastoma. The median concentration of GD2 in children with high-risk neuroblastoma at diagnosis was 167 nM (range, 16.1-1060 nM), which was 30-fold higher than the median concentration (5.6 nM) in controls. GD2 was not elevated in serum from children with the ...