Szturmowicz M, Slodkowska J, Zych J, Rudzinski P, Sakowicz A, Rowinska-Zakrzewska E
Department of Internal Medicine, Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Warsaw, Poland.
Tumour Biol. 1999 Mar-Apr;20(2):99-104. doi: 10.1159/000030052.
Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a classic trophoblastic marker, has been found recently in many nontrophoblastic tumors. Previously we have found elevated serum betaHCG levels in 14% of small cell lung cancer patients. The aim of the present study was to assess the frequency and clinical significance of betaHCG expression in non-small cell lung tumors and in the sera of patients. 153 non-small cell lung cancer patients entered into this study. The control group consisted of 85 patients with benign lung diseases. Serum betaHCG elevation exceeding 5 mIU/ml was found in 3.5% of patients with benign lung diseases and in 12% of lung cancer patients (p = 0.03). Tumor analysis revealed the presence of betaHCG positivity in 28% of resected lung specimens. betaHCG positivity was found more often in adenocarcinoma than in squamous cell lung carcinoma both in tissue and in serum, the differences being not significant. Elevated serum betaHCG values were found more frequently in stage IV patients than in the remainder (p = 0.03). Response to chemotherapy (partial or minor response) was obtained more often in the patients with normal serum betaHCG than in those with serum betaHCG elevation (p = 0.03). We suppose that the ability to produce betaHCG is a rare but important biologic feature of lung carcinomas combined to some extent with chemoresistance.
人绒毛膜促性腺激素（HCG）是一种经典的滋养层标志物，最近在许多非滋养层肿瘤中被发现。此前我们发现14%的小细胞肺癌患者血清β-HCG水平升高。本研究的目的是评估β-HCG在非小细胞肺癌肿瘤组织及患者血清中的表达频率及其临床意义。153例非小细胞肺癌患者纳入本研究。对照组由85例良性肺病患者组成。在3.5%的良性肺病患者和12%的肺癌患者中发现血清β-HCG升高超过5 mIU/ml（p = 0.03）。肿瘤分析显示，在28%的切除肺标本中存在β-HCG阳性。在组织和血清中，腺癌患者的β-HCG阳性率均高于肺鳞状细胞癌患者，但差异无统计学意义。IV期患者血清β-HCG升高的频率高于其余患者（p = 0.03）。血清β-HCG正常的患者对化疗的反应（部分或轻微反应）比血清β-HCG升高的患者更常见（p = 0.03）。我们推测，产生β-HCG的能力是肺癌一种罕见但重要的生物学特征，在一定程度上与化疗耐药相关。
