title: High level of a nerve growth factor in the serum of a patient with medullary carcinoma of the thyroid gland.
abstract: The serum of a patient with a familial medullary thyroid carcinoma showed levels of a factor, active in the nerve growth factor (NGF) bioassay and cross-reacting immunologically with mouse NGF, 20-1000 times higher than sera from normal controls or from patients with unrelated tumours. Variations of the level of this factor in the serum closely correlated with the progression of the disease. One of the patient's sons, apparently clinically normal, also showed high levels of this factor in the serum, raising the possibility that abnormality in the production of this factor could be present at an early stage of the disease.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000097:blood*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D009414:Nerve Growth Factors