Distribution of merosin, a laminin-related tissue-specific basement membrane protein, in human Schwann cell neoplasms.

The expression of merosin and laminin was studied in human schwannomas, plexiform neurofibromas, and malignant schwannomas immunohistochemically using monoclonal antibodies. Merosin is a unique novel tissue-specific basement membrane protein found in basement membranes of trophoblast, striated muscle, and Schwann cells. Merosin is related to laminin, another basement membrane protein with which it shows a homologous C terminal domain. In schwannomas, merosin was only found in areas where tumor cells were in contact with stromal or vascular tissue. Laminin, however, was present in all tumor cell basement membranes. In plexiform neurofibromas large amounts of both merosin and laminin were seen in Schwann cell basement membranes. Very little of either protein was found in malignant schwannomas. Thus merosin is present almost exclusively in highly differentiated Schwann cell neoplasms, and its distribution is more restricted than that of laminin. The expression of merosin in plexiform neurofibromas and in the schwannoma cells juxtaposed to the mesenchymal cells suggests that this protein is induced epigenetically in well-differentiated cells in contact with connective tissue or vascular components.