[The influence of highly purified hCG on the immunocompetence of human lymphocytes and DNA repair system].

PHA-stimulation of human T-lymphocytes, a parameter of cellular immunocompetence, can be suppressed by highly purified human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in a dose-dependent manner. This was shown spectrophotometrically and by the mitosis index. Our results are in agreement with H3-thymidine incorporation studies. We further investigated the DNA repair system in UV-light- and hCG-explsed lymphocytes. It could be shown that DNA repair-replication is disturbed by hCG. Such repair disturbances may cause reduced H3-thymidine incorporation in PHA-stimulated and hCG-treated lymphocytes. It is probably on this molecular level that hCG influences the immunocompetence of human lymphocytes.