title: Investigation of soluble HER2 and transforming growth factor Beta-1 serum levels in gestational trophoblastic disease.
abstract: HER2/neu and TGF-beta1 are over-expressed in various types of malignancies. It appears that they play an important role in the biologic behavior of tumors and have prognostic value. Gestational tropoblastic diseases (GTDs) comprise of a heterogeneous group characterized by abnormally proliferating trophoblastic tissues, ranging from benign to malignant. The objective of this study was to measure and compare the serum levels of s-HER2 and TGF-beta between patients with GTDs and pregnant and non-pregnant controls. Serum levels of s-HER2 and TGF-beta1 were determined by ELISA method in 95 GTD patients (55 complete moles, 32 persistent moles, and 8 choriocarcinoma), 30 normal pregnant controls, and 22 normal non-pregnant controls. Mean serum level of s-HER2 did not differ significantly between patients and controls. TGF-beta1 serum level was significantly higher in GTD patients (20.29 +/- 10.68 pg/ml with 95% confidence interval (CI) of 18.10-22.48 pg/ml) compared with pregnant controls (10.26 +/- 11.84 pg/ml with 95% CI of 5.75-14.76 pg/ml) and non-pregnant controls (7.27 +/- 9.61 pg/ml with 95% CI of 3.01-11.53 pg/ml) (P < 0.001). Our findings suggest that TGF-beta1 serum levels in GTD patients may represent a potential prognostic marker. Further investigations with larger sample size and more frequent sampling are required to elucidate this issue.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetric and Gynecology, Hafez hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, 71345-1798, Shiraz, Iran. samsamia@sums.ac.ir
authors.forename: Alamtaj Samsami
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Dehaghani
authors.forename: Neda Rahimi
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Rad
authors.forename: Mohammad Javad
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Fattahi
authors.forename: Baharak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Khadang
authors.forename: Mohammad Amin
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kashef
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sarraf
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghaderi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D031901:Gestational Trophoblastic Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000097:blood*; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human