Analysis of gangliosides composition in primary and metastatic lesions with clear cell sarcoma

Clear cell sarcoma (CCS) is a rare neoplasm of the soft tissue that is considered to be malignant melanoma. In the present case of CCS, the tumor cells were not stained with DOPA staining or with immunohistochemical staining for S-100 protein, both of which are the useful procedures for the diagnosis of malignant melanoma. The ultrastructural findings revealed that most of the tumor cells contained no melanosome. We, therefore, diagnosed the present case as non-melanotic tyoe of CCS. We analyzed gangliosides in the primary and the netastatic lesion of the patient with CCS using a thin layer chromaography (TLC) and TLC scanner. The gangliosides of the tumor cells detected in both the primary and the metastatic lesion were GM_3, GM_2 and GD_3. The consnts of GM_2 and GD_3 were higher in the metastatic lesion than in the primary lesion. These findings suggested tha the larger the amount of GM2 was, the higher the grade of malignancy in this desease was. Moreover the metastasis seemed to have advanced with the increase of GD3.