title: Why are We Waiting to Start Large Scale Clinical Testing of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin for the Treatment of Preterm Births?
abstract: Preterm births are an expensive global health problem. Despite the basic science and clinical research advances to better understand and prevent preterm births, the rates are increasing. There are several therapeutic options. While some options such as progestins work for selected women, others such as magnesium sulfate can only be used for delaying births for 24 to 48 hours so that the patients can be treated with corticosteroids to promote fetal lung maturity. Based on the scientific and clinical evidence, we recommend testing human chorionic gonadotropin in a large multicenter, randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled clinical trials in women with active preterm labor and those with a previous history of preterm births. Human chorionic gonadotropin is not only inexpensive but also has not shown any side effects so far in the infants or in the mothers.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Cellular Biology and Pharmacology, Molecular and Human Genetics and Obstetrics and Gynecology, Reproduction and Development Program, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA crao@fiu.edu.
authors.forename: C V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Rao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009215:Myometrium / Q000503:physiopathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011372:Progestins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D011974:Receptors, LH / Q000502:physiology; D012102:Reproductive Control Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D011372:Progestins; D011974:Receptors, LH; D012102:Reproductive Control Agents
keywords: hCG; human myometrium; myometrial contractions; preterm births; progestins