Plasma acute-phase reactant proteins in tuberose sclerosis

The quantitative levels of seven of the acute-phase reactant proteins were measured in the plasma of a sample of fifty-four adults all diagnosed as suffering from tuberose sclerosis and compared to that derived from a group of control subjects resident in a hospital for the mentally subnormal. Abnormal levels were found in one or more of the proteins in all but thirteen cases, with no fewer than twenty-six subject (forty-eight per cent) showing results outside the 2SD limits in three or more of the parameters investigated. Only in the alpha1-antitrypsin and fibrinogen were the means not significantly different from the control means but even in these two proteins ten and seven cases respectively individually exceeded the normal mean by more than 2SD. It is suggested that these observations can be explained as the normal response to the presence of neoplastic tissue, and the routine investigation of these and other biochemical components known to respond to the presence of neoplastic tissue may be of help in genetic counselling.