Serum neuronal growth factor levels in von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis.

A single neuronal cell biological assay was used to quantitate neuronal growth factors in 87 serum samples from 69 patients in 48 families with von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis, plus 16 samples from 16 comparison subjects. Mouse nerve growth factor was used as a standard for the bioassay, and results of serum assays were expressed as nerve growth factor equivalents. Antiserum to mouse nerve growth factor inhibited fractionally serum-induced neurite outgrowth, while kinetics of neurite outgrowth and maximal cellular response to serum differed from those induced by mouse nerve growth factor. The mean values (+/- SD) of neuronal growth factors for the patients were 20.5 +/- 15.7 pg/mg serum protein, while mean values for the comparison group as a whole were 22.3 +/- 15.6 pg/mg serum protein. Sex, race/ethnicity, patient age, and date of sample collection did not significantly influence serum levels among patients or comparison subjects. Three to six serial samples taken from women before pregnancy, during the course of pregnancy, during delivery, and in the postpartum period did not show significant differences from one period to another. These data suggest that human serum does contain non-nerve-growth-factor neuronal growth factors, but that levels of the factors do not contribute to the identification of patients with von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis.