Iles R K, Purkis P E, Whitehead P C, Oliver R T, Leigh I, Chard T
Department of Reproductive Physiology, St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College, London, UK.
Br J Cancer. 1990 May;61(5):663-6. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1990.150.
Expression of hCG and its free subunits by non-trophoblastic tumours is well recognised. Previously we reported hCG secretion by normal and malignant bladder epithelial cells in vitro. Here we examined culture medium from 83 different cell lines derived mainly from common epithelial tumours. Thirty-two of the cell lines were found to secrete hCG-like material into their culture media. Partial immunochemical characterisation showed that of these only choriocarcinoma and fetal tissue cell lines produced intact hCG and alpha subunit. The remaining 28 hCG-expressing epithelial cell lines, which are of mucosal origin, only secreted free beta subunit. Expression of free beta hCG by non-trophoblastic nonendocrine cells would appear to be especially characteristic of mucosal epithelia from the genitourinary and oral/respiratory tracts. Furthermore, this phenomenon may be characteristic of epithelium with transitional and/or squamous cell-like properties.
非滋养层肿瘤表达人绒毛膜促性腺激素（hCG）及其游离亚基已得到充分认识。此前我们报道了正常和恶性膀胱上皮细胞在体外分泌hCG。在此，我们检测了主要来源于常见上皮肿瘤的83种不同细胞系的培养基。发现其中32种细胞系向其培养基中分泌hCG样物质。部分免疫化学特性分析表明，这些细胞系中只有绒毛膜癌和胎儿组织细胞系产生完整的hCG和α亚基。其余28种表达hCG的上皮细胞系起源于黏膜，仅分泌游离β亚基。非滋养层非内分泌细胞表达游离β-hCG似乎是泌尿生殖道和口腔/呼吸道黏膜上皮的特别特征。此外，这种现象可能是具有移行和/或鳞状细胞样特性的上皮的特征。
