The Endocrinology of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin-Secreting Testicular Tumors: New Methods in Diagnosis

Abstract

Serum from 59 men with testicular masses was examined for the presence of human chorionic gonadotropin-beta. Results indicate: 1) In patients with testicular tumor human chorionic gonadotropin-beta serves as a sensitive and specific marker of tumor activity with an incidence of 28%. 2) Because human chorionic gonadotropin-beta levels correlate with response to therapy this test will be useful in selecting men for adjunctive irradiation or chemotherapy. 3) Radioimmunoassay for human chorionic gonadotropin-beta is far more sensitive and specific than conventional methods for detecting human chorionic gonadotropin production. 4) After unilateral orchiectomy for carcinoma of the testis elevated serum luteinizing hormone levels are common and may be unrelated to the presence or activity of residual tumor. 5) Human chorionic gonadotropin-beta-producing tumors were associated with increased estradiol and testosterone levels and significantly depressed serum follicle stimulating hormone levels in this series. 6) The prognostic implications of the presence of human chorionic gonadotropin-beta are not yet fully understood. The importance of this study is the fact that men with testicular tumors have a high incidence of human chorionic gonadotropin-beta secretion and this fact provides the physician with a powerful new tool for examining the various aspects of tumor activity. It also shows the feasibility for prospective screening of patients with a wide variety of neoplasms of differing histologic types.

The biological and clinical significance of HCG-containing cells in seminoma

“…This figure is within the range of published data based on morphological appearances or HCG production. Since, as shown in Table II (Javadpour et al, 1978;Hedinger et al, 1979;Mostofi, 1980;Bosman et al, 1980 (Dixon & Moore, 1952;Wilson & Woodhead, 1972;Maier & Sulak, 1973 (Cochran et al, 1975;Bartsch et al, 1979;Javadpour, 1980Javadpour, , 1983 but there is still no concensus as to its prognostic significance. Lange et al (1980) suggest that this finding in association with metastatic seminoma is a poor prognostic sign and indicates the use of chemotherapy.…”

Endocrinological late effects after chemotherapy for testicular cancer

“…Other factors influencing the regulation of the pituitary-testicular hormone axis may be the malignancy itself, which can adversely affect gonadal function (Blackman et al, 1988) and the secretion of,B-hCG by the tumour, which may influence gonadotropin levels (Cochran et al, 1975). However, these tumour-associated factors can be disregarded in long-term surviving patients after ctx.…”

Peptidhormone LH, FSH, TSH, Prolaktin, β-HCG und PTH bei Patienten mit urogenitalen Tumoren

“…Unter endokriner Paraneoplasie versteht man die fehlerhafte, zeitweise exzessive Peptidhormonproduktion oder Hormon bildung von Glykopeptiden durch Tumoren [1][2][3]. Häufiger als die Hormonneubildung sind zirkulierende, inakti ve Hormonanalogien oder Prohormone, die bei radioimmuno logischen Bestimmungen miterfaßt werden und im Serum von Tumorpatienten nachweisbar sind [4,5].…”

“…In beiden Fällen kann man durch wiederholte Messungen das Tumorwachstum kontrollieren und auf Behandlungserfolge rückschließen [1][2][3][4][5]. Bei Patienten mit urogenitalen Tumoren sind Verschiebungen im Prolaktin-HCG-und im Steroidhaushalt, besonders beim Chorionkarzinom, Hodenteratom und beim embryonalen Ho den karzinom ausgeprägt, während beim Nierenkarzinom in geringerem Ausmaß pathologische Parathormon-, Prolaktinund Erythropoetinwerte zu erwarten sind [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Veränderungen im Peptidhormongehalt bei Patienten mit Bla senkarzinom sind selten [8] …”