title: The clinical evaluation of the simultaneous measurements of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and its alpha-subunit in sera of patients with trophoblastic diseases.
abstract: The concentrations of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and its free immunoreactive alpha-subunit (hCG-alpha) in the sera of patients with trophoblastic diseases were measured by hCG and hCG-alpha radioimmunoassay (RIA), respectively. In the sera of 12 women with hydatidiform mole large amounts of hCG and considerably high level of hCG-alpha were detected in all cases. After the evacuation of mole the serum level of these glycoproteins decreased, the leve of hCG-alpha declined more rapidly than hcg. in the sera of patients with destructive mole the concentration of hCG-alpha was usually lower than that of hCG. After hysterectomy and chemotherapy the levels of hCG-alpha declined practically paralleling that of hCG. However, when hCG had decreased to undetectable level, hCG-alpha could no longer be detected in all cases. Although in the serum of patient with choriocarcinoma involving the uterus and lungs the concentration of hCG-alpha was almost as high as that of hCG, the secretory pattern of hCG and hCG-alpha might not be closely related. The changes in the serum level of free hCG-alpha as well as that of hCG parelled the clinical course of the patients examined in this study. The present results suggest that measurements of the serum free hCG-alpha may be a useful parameter to follow the clinical course and to evaluate the efficacy of treatments of trophoblastic diseases.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002822:Choriocarcinoma / Q000097:blood*; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D006828:Hydatidiform Mole / Q000097:blood*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000556:secondary; D011247:Pregnancy; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D006023:Glycoproteins