Type IV and V collagens in von Recklinghausen's neurofibromas. An immunohistochemical and electrophoretical study.

Type IV and V collagens were localized in neurofibromas from six patients with von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis (NF) using the peroxidase anti-peroxidase (PAP) technique. The collagens were also isolated from neurofibromas by pepsin digestion and fractionating salt precipitations and demonstrated with sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Staining reactions for both collagens were detected in most of the cells in the disorganized NF tumor tissue. These cells also were S-100 protein-positive and were considered to be of Schwannian cell origin, while the type IV collagen-negative cells showed fibroblastoid, mast cell and histiocytic characteristics. Type IV collagen detection was also used to study the structure of a neurofibroma after 3 weeks in tissue culture. The proportion of fibroblastoid, type IV collagen-negative cells increased significantly in the cultured neurofibromas and "buds" containing solely fibroblastoid cells were seen at the periphery of the tumor fragments. Cultured 6th passage tumor cells produced type V but no type IV collagen as estimated with SDS-PAGE. Further, two malignant Schwannomas from a patient with NF were stained with antibodies to type IV collagen. A positive staining reaction was associated only with the vascular walls in the malignant Schwannomas suggesting that type IV collagen expression is linked with cell differentiation. The present data show that the detection of type IV collagen using the PAP-method is useful in studying the organization of tumors with mixed cell populations such as neurofibromas. Large neurofibromas might also serve as a source for the isolation of human type IV and V collagens.