The effect of prolactin and bombesin on the growth of meningioma-derived cells in monolayer culture.
Meningioma growth is thought to be stimulated by the sex hormones progesterone and possibly estrogen. We report here stimulation of growth of meningioma-derived cells in culture by prolactin. Fourteen human tumors taken from surgery were initially grown in Ham's medium F10 with 15% fetal calf serum. The tumors were then trypsinized and resuspended in medium in a multi-well plate with either prolactin or bombesin; the cells were incubated for 1 week, washed, and resuspended for cell counting. The growth-stimulating effect of prolactin at 10 and 200 micrograms/ml was compared with bombesin at 5 mM/ml or 15 mM/ml. A growth index compared cell count in the experimental well to the control well; growth at the rate of the control well was given an index of 1.0. The tumors included 7 meningiomas and 7 other neoplasms (3 astrocytomas, an ependymoma, a pineoblastoma, a hemangiopericytoma, and a metastatic adenocarcinoma). For meningiomas incubated in 10 micrograms/ml prolactin, the growth index was 3.08; for those incubated in 200 micrograms/ml prolactin, it was 2.28. Bombesin indices were 1.7 and 1.2 at 5 mM/ml and 15 mM/ml, respectively. By 2-tailed t-testing both prolactin concentrations stimulated the growth of meningiomas significantly (P < or = 0.02), while bombesin did not. Neither peptide enhanced the growth of the other tumors tested.
Jimenez-Hakim
E
E
Brain Tumor Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
el-Azouzi
M
M
Black
P M
PM
D001839:Bombesin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008579:Meningioma / Q000473:pathology*; D011388:Prolactin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013268:Stimulation, Chemical; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000187:drug effects
D011388:Prolactin; D001839:Bombesin