Specificity and sensitivity of human chorionic gonadotropin radioimmunoassays. A comparison of two different approaches.
Two different procedures for determination of HCG in plasma from patients with testicular germ cell tumors, patients with benign disease, and normal controls were applied: (1) measurement of the amount of HCG and its beta-subunit, and (2) assay of the isolated beta-subunit alone. The test which measured the free beta-subunit and the HCG molecule gave 13% more sensitivity in patients with nonseminomatous germ cell tumors. The specificity in blood donors was 100% for both tests. In benign diseases the measurement of the complete molecule gave 100% specificity, whereas the other procedure had a specificity of 95%. For these reasons, the determination of the complete molecule seems to be preferable for patients with nonseminomatous germ cell tumors.
D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin / Q000097:blood*; D018997:Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009373:Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal / Q000097:blood; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay / Q000379:methods*; D013733:Testicular Diseases / Q000097:blood; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000097:blood
D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D018997:Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human; D010446:Peptide Fragments