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Molecular heterogeneity of hCG β — related glycoproteins and the clinical relevance in trophoblastic and non‐trophoblastic tumors
Author(s) -
Nishimura R.,
Koizumi T.,
Yokotani T.,
Taniguchi R.,
Morisue K.,
Yoshimura M.,
Hiranmoy D.,
Yamaguchi S.,
Nakagawa T.,
Hasegawa K.,
Yasui H.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/s0020-7292(98)80002-7
Subject(s) - trophoblastic tumor , choriocarcinoma , medicine , urine , chorioepithelioma , urinary system , trophoblastic neoplasm , clinical significance , urinary bladder , tumor marker , endocrinology , pregnancy , gestation , cancer , biology , genetics
We analyzed immunoreactive hCG/hCG β (IR‐β) in the sera and urine of patients with trophoblastic diseases and non‐trophoblastic tumors by using enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) specific for intact hCG, free hCG β, and β‐core fragment of hCG (β‐CF). In trophoblastic diseases, while intact hCG and free hCG β were contained in both serum and urine, the β‐CF could be detected only in the urine of the patients. The relative contribution of the β‐CF to the total urinary IR‐β accounted for about 30–50% in normal early pregnancy and hydatidiform mole, and more than 60% in choriocarcinoma. We conclude that intact hCG should be measured in the serum rather than in the urine as a tumor marker for trophoblastic dieseases, and suggested that the ratios of intact hCG, free hCG β, and β‐CF to each other may be useful indices in the differential diagnosis of trophoblastic diseases. Ectopic IR‐β was also investigated in the sera and urine of the patients with cervical, endometrial, ovarian, lung, and bladder carcinomas. We found that even when IR‐β could not be detected in the serum, the urine of the same patients with cancer often contained the significant amounts of IR‐β. The chromatographic study indicated that these urinary IR‐β were essentially attributed to β‐CF, leading to the evaluation of urinary β‐CF as a tumor marker. The positive rated of urinary β‐CF were 48% for cervical, 38% for endometrial, and 84% for ovarian, 40% for lung, and 42% for bladder carcinomas. We conclude that ectopic production of hCG β by non‐trophoblastic tumors is not a rare phenomenon and it can be recognized as a tumor marker when β‐CF is measured in urine of the patients.