Abstract
Kaposi’s sarcoma is a highly angiogenic, AIDS-associated neoplasm that is more frequent in male than in female patients. Cases of spontaneous regression during pregnancy have been reported and the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) has shown anti-Kaposi’s sarcoma activity in several, but not all, clinical trials. Antiproliferative and proapoptotic activities specific for Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) cells have been shown. We report here further analyses of the anti-KS activity of the hormone and show that urinary hCG, the hCG β-subunit, the hCG β-core, and to a lesser extent a recombinant hCG, directly inhibit the activity of matrix metalloproteases of different origin. The hCG hormone also inhibited angiogenesis in vivo in the matrigel sponge assay as well as growth of KS cell xenografts in nude mice. The effect of the pure recombinant hormone dimer on xenograft growth was transient, indicating that the activity of intact hCG alone is not sufficient to overcome the growth potential of this tumor and suggesting that active hCG fragments or other anti-KS activities contribute to the activity of urinary hCG.
https://academic.oup.com/endo/article/1 ... 14/2989730
Ovarian and testicular cancer can dramatically increase hCG levels. Other cancer types, such as breast and lung cancer, may also increase hCG blood levels. High hCG levels further feed the growth of tumors and the blood vessels that feed them. Pregnancy tests should never be used to screen for these cancer types.
Low levels of hCG may be detected in a woman’s blood 8-11 days after conception. hCG levels in early pregnancy are at their highest towards the end of the first trimester, before they gradually decline over the rest of the pregnancy. hCG levels can vary at different times of the day, and from week to week
Human chorionic gonadotropin is a hormone that is most often associated with pregnancy in women. However, both males and nonpregnant females produce low levels of hCG throughout their lives as well. In healthy adult males, the normal level of hCG is quite low, and should range between being undetectable and 5 milli-international units per milliliter of blood. Abnormal increases in hCG in males can potentially indicate underlying pathology.