Characterization of insulin-like growth factor 1 in human primary brain tumors.

Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is involved in the regulation of brain development and has been suggested as an autocrine stimulator of brain tumor cell proliferation. This study demonstrates the expression of IGF-1 in tumor tissue from human gliomas and one esthesioneuroblastoma. Using immunohistochemistry, expression of an IGF-1-like peptide was localized in tumor cells of 6 of the 9 gliomas examined as well as the esthesioneuroblastoma. From one anaplastic oligodendroglioma (which showed strong IGF-1 immunostaining) the IGF-1 transcripts were characterized after isolation of mRNA followed by amplification using the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Two IGF-1 complementary DNAs resulting from alternative splicing of the IGF-1 primary transcript were identified. These transcripts encode two different precursor proteins which correspond to Ea IGF-1 and Eb IGF-1. The significance of IGF-1 alternative mRNA splicing pathways remains to be determined.