Gangliosides: differentiation markers for murine T helper lymphocyte subpopulations TH1 and TH2

A study was conducted on the TH1 and TH2 murine T helper lymphocyte subsets. Binding experiments revealed that the main gangliosides of TH1 and TH2 shared a common GgOse4 backbone. This fact proved that the lymphocytes differed only in the degree of position of sialylation. Further experimentation also led to the discovery of GD1a as a useful marker for the TH2 helper subtype and also showed the preferential expression of GD1alpha by TH1 lymphocytes.