COMPARISON OF CIRCULATING GLYCOPROTEIN HORMONES AND THEIR SUBUNITS IN PATIENTS WITH OAT CELL CARCINOMA OF THE LUNG AND URAEMIC PATIENTS ON CHRONIC DIALYSIS

Abstract

It has recently been suggested that the measurement of the glycoprotein hormones and their subunits in human serum may serve as biochemical markers of non-endocrine tumours. Using radioimmunoassays for LH, FSH, HCGβ-, LHβ- and the common α-subunit, significant differences in the levels of these substances could not be detected between patients with oat cell lung tumours and patients with chronic renal failure. However, compared to normal subjects the α-subunit levels in serum were elevated in 12% of the male and 30% of the female patients with oat cell carcinoma of the lung and in 80 and 50% of the male and female patients, respectively, with chronic renal failure. The LHβ-subunit concentration was normal in all tumour patients and none of these patients had detectable (< 4 ng/ml) levels of HCGβ-subunit. While such measurements may be of value in relationship to particular neoplasms, it appears that raised levels of glycoproteins and their subunits may be found in other disease states.