Urinary TGFs1 in neoplasia: immunoreactive TGF-alpha in the urine of patients with disseminated breast carcinoma.

A tumor-associated growth factor was identified in a 22-liter pool of urine from patients with disseminated breast cancer using an isolation scheme which separates transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha) from the high level of human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) normally present in urine. Concentration of urinary proteins by adsorption onto methyl bonded microparticulate silica, selective elution by acetonitrile, and subsequent gel permeation, cation exchange, and high performance liquid chromatography, resolved an EGF-related growth factor which generated a competitive binding curve similar to that of synthetic rat TGF-alpha in radioimmunoassay. A 26-liter pool of urine from normal subjects, evaluated in the same manner as a part of another study, did not contain measureable quantities of this factor.