Determination of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in human brain tumors.

Brain tumors have been tested for their glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) content by means of the rocket electrophoresis technique. Meningiomas and neurinomas were low in GFAP. Metastases had a low level of GFAP except when contaminated with surrounding tissue. Non-nervous tumors such as myeloma, myeloplaxoma and adenocarcinoma gave negative results. More detailed correlations with histological observations have been looked for in glial tumors. Low levels of GFAP were always associated with signs of malignancy such as mitoses and giant or atypical cells, whereas high levels of GFAP were correlated with the presence of well-preserved astrocytes.