Birken S
Ann Endocrinol (Paris). 1984;45(4-5):297-305.
Human choriogonadotropin is the placental member of the homologous glycoprotein hormone family which includes the pituitary hormones lutropin, follitropin and thyrotropin all of which share a common alpha subunit but different target-specific beta subunits. HCG differs chemically from the pituitary hormones by its higher carbohydrate content, high sialic acid content, lack of sulfation, longer plasma half-Life and capability to survive passage through the kidney essentially intact. Since crystallographic models are not available, hormone topography has been explored by immunochemical methods using both polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. Studies of the immunochemistry of the beta COOH-terminal region have shown that determinants dependant upon carbohydrate content exist within this region. Such work also led to development of extremely sensitive and specific immunoassays for measurement of the hormone.
人绒毛膜促性腺激素是同源糖蛋白激素家族中的胎盘成员，该家族包括垂体激素促黄体生成素、促卵泡生成素和促甲状腺激素，它们都共享一个共同的α亚基，但有不同的靶标特异性β亚基。人绒毛膜促性腺激素在化学上与垂体激素不同，其碳水化合物含量更高、唾液酸含量高、缺乏硫酸化、血浆半衰期更长，并且能够在基本完整的情况下通过肾脏。由于没有晶体学模型，已通过使用多克隆和单克隆抗体的免疫化学方法探索激素拓扑结构。对β羧基末端区域免疫化学的研究表明，该区域存在依赖于碳水化合物含量的决定簇。这项工作还导致开发出用于测量该激素的极其灵敏和特异的免疫测定法。
