Investigation of Soluble HER2 and Transforming Growth Factor Beta-1 Serum Levels in Gestational Trophoblastic Disease

Abstract

HER2/neu and TGF-beta1 are over-expressed in various types of malignancies. It appears that they play an important role in the biologic behavior of tumors and have prognostic value. Gestational tropoblastic diseases (GTDs) comprise of a heterogeneous group characterized by abnormally proliferating trophoblastic tissues, ranging from benign to malignant. The objective of this study was to measure and compare the serum levels of s-HER2 and TGF-beta between patients with GTDs and pregnant and non-pregnant controls. Serum levels of s-HER2 and TGF-beta1 were determined by ELISA method in 95 GTD patients (55 complete moles, 32 persistent moles, and 8 choriocarcinoma), 30 normal pregnant controls, and 22 normal non-pregnant controls. Mean serum level of s-HER2 did not differ significantly between patients and controls. TGF-beta1 serum level was significantly higher in GTD patients (20.29 +/- 10.68 pg/ml with 95% confidence interval (CI) of 18.10-22.48 pg/ml) compared with pregnant controls (10.26 +/- 11.84 pg/ml with 95% CI of 5.75-14.76 pg/ml) and non-pregnant controls (7.27 +/- 9.61 pg/ml with 95% CI of 3.01-11.53 pg/ml) (P < 0.001). Our findings suggest that TGF-beta1 serum levels in GTD patients may represent a potential prognostic marker. Further investigations with larger sample size and more frequent sampling are required to elucidate this issue.

Immunohistochemistry Study of P53 and C-erbB-2 Expression in Trophoblastic Tissue and Their Predictive Values in Diagnosing Malignant Progression of Simple Molar Pregnancy

“…Yang et al reported a prognostic value of 84% for percentage of cytorophoblasts with positive cytoplasmic immunostaining to predict the malignant progression of simple molar pregnancy ( 16 ). However, there are conflicting reports: Cameron et al reported the expression of c-erbB-2 in only one case out of 20 patients with persistent gestational trophoblastic disease ( 34 ); Dehaghani AS et al found that the mean serum c-erbB-2 does not differ significantly between GTD patients and normal pregnant controls ( 35 ). In contrast to these reports, we found an over expression of c-erbB-2 in cytotrophoblast of patients with GTN and complete mole with significant difference to simple molar pregnancy and partial mole.…”

Effects of transforming growth factor-β1 on the proliferation and invasion of the HTR-8/SVneo cell line

“…Dave et al ( 21 ) found that higher TGF-β1 levels were exhibited in the serum of breast cancer patients. Furthermore, Dehaghani et al ( 22 ) revealed that the TGF-β1 serum levels were significantly higher in gestational trophoblastic disease patients when compared with those in pregnant and non-pregnant controls.…”