Nerve growth factor may function as a survival factor for human neuroblastoma cells in culture.

Cells from two human neuroblastomas were found to exhibit a marked dependency on nerve growth factor (NGF) for survival in primary cultures. Cells from both tumors also responded to NGF by forming processes, but survival was not necessarily associated with process outgrowth. Lines of replicating cells could not be obtained from either tumor. NGF-dependent survival has not previously been reported as a characteristic of NGF-responsive human neuroblastoma cells in primary cultures or in cultures of established cell lines. Our findings suggest that tumors which require NGF for survival might constitute a biologically distinctive subset of neuroblastomas, or that NGF might function as a survival factor for some human neuroblastomas only in suboptimal or deleterious environments.