Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta like activity of intracranial meningioma and its effect on cell growth

Polypeptides, characterized by their ability to confer a transformed phenotype on an untransformed indicator cell have been isolated directly from surgical specimens of intracranial meningioma by using an acid/ethanol extraction procedure. Transforming activity in meningeal cells was based on the ability to induce NRK 49F rat kidney fibroblasts to form colonies in soft agar. This polypeptide was separated by gel filtration into two fragments of 15 and 40 kilodalton (kDa) molecular weight. Among other cases of brain neoplasms, one case of glioblastoma multiforme had moderate TGF-beta activity, but medulloblastoma and neurinoma had no activity. Purified TGF-beta also stimulated DNA synthesis in primary cultured meningioma cells, but no effect was seen in U 251MG human glioma cells. While the physiological function of TGF-beta is still ill-defined and the molecular character of its receptor has not been analyzed, intracranial meningiomas are noted to have TGF-beta-like activity. TGF-beta also induces the DNA synthesis of cultured meningioma cells. From these results, TGF-beta would be considered one of the growth promoting factors in meningioma.