S_ry Factors involved in the control of the biological properties of gliomas, the major form of brain tumour in man, are poorly documented. We investigated the role of transforming growth factor P, (TGF-P,) in the control of proliferation of human glioma cell lnes as well as normal human fetal brain cells. The data presented show that TGF-, exerts a growth-inhibitory action on both human fetal brain cells and three cell lines derived from human glioma of different grades of malignancy. In addition, this growth-inhibitory effect is dose dependent and serum independenL Since TGF-4 is known to be involved in the control of cell migration during ontogenesis and oncogenesis, we investigated the role of this factor in the motile and invasive behaviour that characterises human gliomas in vivo. was Transforming growth factor PI (TGF-i1) is a member of a large family of structurally related proteins which play a role in the control of proliferation, differentiation and morphogenesis in cultured cells and organisms from insects to mammals (reviewed in Massague, 1990). TGF-P, was initially defined by its ability to induce anchorage-independent growth of non-transformed rat kidney cells (Roberts et al., 1981 The IPNT-H cell line was derived from a pilocytic astrocytoma of the hypothalamus in a 6-month-old child. Despite the fact that the tumour from which this cell line was derived was histologically classified as a pilocytic astrocytoma, it showed a high proliferative rate in agreement with recent reports demonstrating that occasionally these tumours possess a high mitotic index (Ito et al., 1992). Histological analysis showed the presence of mitoses in one-tenth of high-power fields, but no necrosis or endothelial cell proliferation was noted. In some areas there was an increase in cellularity and very occasional entrapped neurons could be discerned within the tumour. IPNT-H cells were used at passage 7; IPSB-18 was derived from a human grade 3 tumour of the temporal lobe in a 48-year-old man (Knott et al., 1990) Cell proliferation assay Cells were plated at 5 x I04 cells per well in six-well culture plates in DMEM containing FCS in the absence or presence of 5 ng ml-' TGF-,B. The medium was changed once, after 3 days of incubation, and the cell number was determined, after 7 days, by trypinisation and counting in a haemocytometer. All experiments were performed in triplicate and repeated at least twice.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.