Cerebellar hemangioblastoma: erythropoietic activity by radioiron assay.

Abstract

Summary The association of erythrocytosis with various neoplasms has been observed in many cases. Renal carcinomas and cerebellar hemangioblastomas are the most frequently reported association. The literature on the erythropoietic stimulating effect of cerebellar hemangioblastomas has been extensively reviewed, but Fe59 assay for erythropoietin in the cyst fluid has been limited to one case. The present work reports on the erythropoietic activity in the cyst fluid of five cystic cerebellar tumors, three of which were hemangioblastomas. The cyst fluid was assayed in mice made polycythemic by intraperitoneal hypertransfusion. The erythropoietic response to the test material was measured by the incorporation of Fe59 into newly-formed red blood cells. The per cent uptake of injected Fe59 in control animals is on the order of 0.2 and the other two cerebellar tumors (teratoma and ependymoma) showed incorporation within one standard deviation of this value. The three cerebellar hemangioblastomas showed significantly higher Fe59 uptake ranging from 4.0 to 18.9 per cent for the same volume of test material. This study confirms the presence of an erythropoietic-stimulating factor in the cyst fluid of cerebellar hemangioblastomas. The magnitude of Fe59 incorporation obtained with the time factors and sequences of the assay method employed was similar to that for erythropoietin, but not to other erythropoietic stimulators.