Glycosaminoglycans of pleural mesothelioma: a possible biochemical variant containing chondroitin sulfate.

Glycosaminoglycans of a malignant pleural mesothelioma have been characterized histochemically and biochemically and compared with those of normal lung, pleural plaque, lung carcinoma, and other connective tissue neoplasms. Chondroitin sulfate constituted the major glycosaminoglycan (approximately 80% of total) present in the pleural mesothelioma while hyaluronic acid was present in only trace amounts (approximately 3% of total). In particular chondroitin 6-sulfate was the predominant isomer, constituting 80% of the total chondroitin sulfate. Control tissue exhibited different proportions of glycosaminoglycans and none of them contained as high an absolute concentration of chondroitin sulfate as the mesothelioma. These findings differ from previous reports demonstrating increased concentration of hyaluronic acid in mesothelioma and suggest the possible existence of a biochemically different form of this neoplasm.