The nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor was characterized by using a new series of anti-receptor monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). These MAbs (i) showed significantly greater reactivity with a melanoma cell line expressing higher levels of NGF receptor, (ii) inhibited the binding of '251-labeled NGF to its receptor, and (iii) immunoprecipitated both metabolically labeled and '251-labeled NGF affinity-labeled receptor. These experiments defined the receptor as a 75-kDa cell-surface protein. The NGF receptor was visualized by immunoperoxidase staining in tissue sections of human nevi, melanomas, neurofibromas, a pheochromocytoma, and peripheral nerves. Uniform staining of the cytoplasm suggests that, in addition to cell-surface NGF receptors, there is a population of intracellular receptors.Nerve growth factor (NGF) has been the subject of extensive study because of its importance for regulation of development of sympathetic and sensory neurons and possibly other neural crest-derived cell types as well (1). Involvement of NGF in neural crest tumors such as melanoma has been suggested but never directly demonstrated. Efforts to identify oncogenes or oncogene-encoded products in malignant melanoma have been inconclusive (2), but the NGF receptor is a reasonable candidate particularly since, as we demonstrate in this study, it is expressed on melanoma cells in much greater quantities than on normal melanocytes. Progress in determining the relevance of this receptor to the transformed phenotype has been slow because the NGF receptor is not well characterized, nor are there good anti-receptor monoclonal antibodies (MAbs)

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The AAMC's Increasing Women's Leadership Project Implementation Committee examined four years of data on the advancement of women in academic medicine. With women comprising only 14% of tenured faculty and 12% of full professors, the committee concludes that the progress achieved is inadequate. Because academic medicine needs all the leaders it can develop to address accelerating institutional and societal needs, the waste of most women's potential is of growing importance. Only institutions able to recruit and retain women will be likely to maintain the best housestaff and faculty. The long-term success of academic health centers is thus inextricably linked to the development of women leaders. The committee therefore recommends that medical schools, teaching hospitals, and academic societies (1) emphasize faculty diversity in departmental reviews, evaluating department chairs on their development of women faculty; (2) target women's professional development needs within the context of helping all faculty maximize their faculty appointments, including helping men become more effective mentors of women; (3) assess which institutional practices tend to favor men's over women's professional development, such as defining "academic success" as largely an independent act and rewarding unrestricted availability to work (i.e., neglect of personal life); (4) enhance the effectiveness of search committees to attract women candidates, including assessment of group process and of how candidates' qualifications are defined and evaluated; and (5) financially support institutional Women in Medicine programs and the AAMC Women Liaison Officer and regularly monitor the representation of women at senior ranks.