Release of epidermal growth-factor transforming growth-factor-alpha by ovarian-tumors in-vitro

EGF-like activity was measured in media from 3-hour incubations of ovarian tissue from 27 patients with normal postmenopausal ovaries, malignant or benign epithelial tumours. EGF-like activity in the medium was measured using a radioreceptor assay. Malignant tumour tissue released significantly more EGF/TGF-alpha than benign tissues and aneuploid carcinomas more than diploid carcinomas. In spite of varying amounts of tumour cells there was a strong correlation in EGF/TCF-alpha release from the different tissue samples of each patient suggesting paracrine rather than autocrine regulation. The level of EGF-like activity may be a feature of the patient rather than of the tumour cells.