抄録
The concentrations of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and its free immunoreactive alpha-subunit (hCG-α) in the sera of patients with trophoblastic diseases were measured by hCG and hCG-α radioimmunoassay (RIA), respectively.
In the sera of 12women with hydatidiform mole large amounts of hCG and considerably high level of hCG-α were detected in all cases. After the evacuation of mole the serum level of these glycoproteins decreased, the level of hCG-α declined more rapidly than hCG.
In the sera of patients with destructive mole the concentration of hCG-α was usually lower than that of hCG. After hysterectomy and chemotherapy the levels of hCG-α declined practically paralleling that of hCG. However, when hCG had decreased to undetectable level, hCG-α 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-α was almost as high as that of hCG, the secretory pattern of hCG and hCG-α might not be closely related. The changes in the serum level of free hCG-α as well as that of hCG paralelled the clinical course of the patients examined in this study. The present results suggest that measurements of the serum free hCG-α may be a useful parameter to follow the clinical course and to evaluate the efficacy of treatments of trophoblastic diseases.
