Study summary · research use only
Early pregnancy human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) isoforms measured by an immunometric assay for choriocarcinoma-like hCG
Plain-language summary
Paraphrased from the published abstract below — not a verdict on whether anything works.
This human study describes changes in human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) isoforms measured directly in clinical blood and urine samples across pregnancy. The abstract reports that early pregnancy produces a form of hCG that, in immunoreactivity, resembles a major form excreted in choriocarcinoma, and that these isoforms predominate for the first 5-6 weeks of gestation before being replaced by the isoforms that predominate through the rest of pregnancy. The authors note that the same shift occurs in both blood and urine and in in vitro fertilization pregnancies, and that pituitary-derived hCG showed binding characteristics similar to hCG from normal pregnancy urine. They suggest that the isoform balance may have potential diagnostic application for predicting pregnancy outcome.
Abstract
Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) exhibits molecular heterogeneity in both its protein and carbohydrate moieties. This communication describes changes in hCG isoforms detected directly in clinical samples. These isoforms, quantified in blood or urine specimens, show a progression of change throughout normal pregnancy. Early pregnancy produces a type of hCG that resembles, in terms of immunoreactivity, a major form of hCG excreted in choriocarcinoma. The isoforms predominate for the first 5-6 weeks of gestation and then diminish, being replaced with the hCG isoforms which predominate throughout the remainder of pregnancy. The alteration in hCG isoform content occurs in both blood and urine. The progression of isoforms is best delineated by calculating the change in the ratio of the two forms, as many hCG assays either do not detect or fail to discriminate among these isoforms. An analogous pattern of hCG isoforms was observed in patients with in vitro fertilization pregnancies. hCG isolated from the pituitary displayed binding characteristics similar to those of the hCG derived from normal pregnancy urine. The early pregnancy hCG isoforms appear to have a differential expression in normal pregnancy as opposed to pregnancies which will not carry to term, suggesting that a determination of the relative balance of hCG isoforms may have diagnostic application in predicting pregnancy outcome.
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