Inherited mutations of the p53 and neurofibromin genes are thought to cause two distinct neoplastic disorders in which gliomas occur, the Li-Fraumeni syndrome and neurofibromatosis type 1. We investigated the possibility that inherited mutations in specific regions of these genes also contributed to the clustering of gliomas in otherwise normal families. Twenty-six members of 16 families with glioma were screened for germline mutations of exons 5 through 9 of the p53 gene and exon 24 of the neurofibromin gene using a polymerase chain reaction-single-strand conformation polymorphism method. No germline mutations were found, suggesting that the genetic basis of familial glioma is distinct from that of gliomas occurring in the Li-Fraumeni syndrome, and that inherited mutations of the catalytic domain of neurofibromin do not predispose affected glioma families to these tumors.