The pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is also present at low concentrations in plasma and urine of men and nonpregnant women. hCG immunoreactivity occurs in various molecular forms: Besides the intact hCG heterodimer, considerable amounts of proteolytically cleaved forms, free subunits, and fragments are found in plasma and urine. Especially in urine, proteolytic fragments co...

RESULTS: Differences in calibration of current hCG assays are moderate. Mean recovery of the current International Standard (IS), hCG IS 75/589, was 107% (range 93% to 126%), whereas that of the IRR 99/688 for hCG was 139% (range 109%–164%). Betweenmethod variation for the latter (CV 12.3%) was also greater than for IS 75/589 (CV 8.8%). Recognition of hCG varied markedly (CV 37%). Most assays l...

INDUCTION OF OVULATION IN THE HUMAN WITH HUMAN GONADOTROPINS.* By C. Lee Buxton and Walter Herrmann, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Yale University School of Medicine. During the 33 years since human chorionic gonadotropin (hereafter to be designated as HCG) was shown to produce ovulation in small mammals, there have been numerous unsatisfactory attempts to stimulate human ovarian act...

OBJECTIVE To establish normative weight-adjusted models for the median levels of first trimester serum biomarkers for trisomy 21 screening in southern Thai women, and to compare these reference levels with Caucasian-specific and northern Thai models. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted in 1,150 normal singleton pregnancy women to determine serum pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A...

The effects of either single injection or continuous infusion of synthetic Gn-RH on plasma hCG levels were studied in 5 pregnant women (14-38 week gestation). No definite increase of hCG level was seen in all the cases studied. In view of large dosages of Gn-RH used in this study in comparison with its minimum effective dose for the pituitary gonadotropin release, Gn-RH seems unlikely to play a...

OBJECTIVE To determine the average within person biological variability of free-β human chorionic gonadotrophin (free hCGβ), intact hCG and pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A), and to establish analytical goals for the measurement of these markers when used in first trimester screening. METHODS Free hCGβ, PAPP-A and intact hCG were measured on paired first trimester samples collect...

The X-ray structure of a ternary complex between human chorionic gonadotropin hormone (hCG) and two Fvs recognizing its alpha and beta subunits has been recently determined. The Fvs recognize the elongated hCG molecule by its two ends, one being the Leu-12-Cys-29 loop of the alpha subunit. We have designed and synthesized a 17-amino-acid peptide (named PepH14) derived from the sequence of this ...

OBJECTIVE We propose that the adrenal gland of an older higher primate female animal model will respond to human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) hormone challenge by secreting additional dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS). Such a response in surgically and chemically castrated animals will provide proof of concept and a validated animal model for future studies to explore the rise in DHEAS dur...

Choriocarcinoma is a highly invasive and metastatic neoplasm which arises in women of reproductive age. It can be either gestational or nongestational in origin, but the latter form is very rare. Choriocarcinoma is characterized by the production of human chorionic gonadotropin. It can metastasize to distant organs such as lung, brain, liver, kidney, and vagina in the early stages of disease, b...