Determination of the age-related changes of serum basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) level in healthy Japanese subjects.

We determined the serum basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) levels in healthy Japanese individuals to establish a reference value by means of specific human bFGF ELISA. It was found that there were no significant differences between the serum bFGF levels of children and adults. However, the reference value for children had a broader range than that of adults. Therefore, it is recommended that when the serum bFGF levels of patients are evaluated, the values should be compared with those of age-matched controls. To demonstrate the usefulness of the reference value for children, we measured the bFGF level of an 8-year boy with diarrhea positive (D+) hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), as a preliminary study. The serum bFGF level of the patient with HUS was markedly higher than those of healthy children from the onset of D+HUS. Our reliable reference value for healthy children will allow us to discriminate between normal and pathological conditions in future studies.