Insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) mRNA was increased in two of eight neuroblastomas and in eight of eight pheochromocytomas, tumors of the adrenal medulla that occur in childhood and adulthood, respectively. RNA encoding the type I IGF receptor, the receptor thought to mediate the mitogenic effects of IGF-I and IGF-II, also was uniformly expressed in these cells. To assess the role of IGF-II in the growth of these tumor cells, we have used the SK-N-AS cultured neuroblastoma cell line, which can be continuously propagated in mitogen-free medium, as a model system. Our results strongly suggest that IGF-II, synthesized by SK-N-AS cells and acting through type

Evidence for ovarian secretion of somatomedins or insulin-like growth factors (IGF's) was generated by two approaches. First, porcine granulosa cells were shown to produce IGF's and an IGF-binding protein under serum-free conditions in vitro. The ovarian IGF's were recognized in two competitive binding assays specific for IGF's, a RIA using antibodies to human IGF-I and a radioreceptor assay using rat liver plasma membranes. IGF secretion was maintained for at least 10 days in culture. Second, ovarian production of IGF's in vivo was suggested by studies which showed that IGF levels in follicular fluid from preovulatory follicles were significantly greater than those in either serum or immature follicles. In contrast, similar low levels of insulin were observed in the follicles and serum. In conjunction with previous evidence of IGF action on granulosa cells, the present studies suggest the possibility of an autocrine role of IGF's in regulating follicular growth and development.

A carrier protein for insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) has been purified from serum-free medium conditioned by the Buffalo rat liver (BRL)-3A cell line and used to immunize rabbits. Purified carrier protein was 125I labeled and affinity purified on IGF-Sepharose. The major labeled protein had a mol wt of about 33,000 on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (appropriate for the IGF carrier protein subunit) and gave a single predominant peak of radioactivity on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and acid-urea gel electrophoresis that was immunoprecipitated by immune serum and comigrated with unlabeled proteins that bind [125I] IGF. A RIA was developed using affinity purified [125I]carrier protein and immune serum. Tracer binding was inhibited only by preparations containing IGF carrier proteins, but not by unrelated proteins or by the IGFs themselves. Carrier proteins from BRL-3A cells gave equivalent strong reactivity either after dissociation of endogenous IGF or as an IGF-carrier protein complex. The antiserum effectively recognized the approximately 40,000 mol wt (Mr approximately 40,000) carrier protein from neonatal rat serum, both as a native complex and after acid stripping. It did not effectively recognize the Mr approximately 150,000 carrier protein from adult rat serum either as endogenous complex or after acid stripping. These results suggest that the Mr approximately 40,000 carrier protein of neonatal rat serum and the Mr approximately 40,000 binding subunit of the Mr approximately 150,000 carrier protein in adult rat serum are immunologically distinct. These antisera to the BRL-3A carrier protein should be useful tools with which to dissect the relationships between different carrier protein species and to study the regulation of IGF carrier protein gene expression.