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The Significance of -Subunit as a Tumor Marker for Gonadotropin-Producing Pituitary Adenomas^_*

O. KUBO, K. KITAMURA, R. DEMURA, K. JIBIKI, E. ODAGIRI, H. DEMURA and K. SHIZUME

Department of Internal Medicine and Neurosurgery, Tokyo Women's Medical College Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Women's Medical College Tokyo, Japan

We studied gonadotropin hormone a-subunit and gonadotropin secretion in four patients with gonadotropinproducing pituitary adenomas. All four patients had elevated plasma a-subunit levels, ranging from 2.8–8.5 ng/ml (normal, <0.5 ng/ml). -Subunit responses to LHRH were less than those in seven patients with primary gonadal failure. The relative proportions of the gonadotropin and -subunit peaks in one patient were the same before and after LHRH administration, based on gel filtration studies of plasma. The -subunit levels decreased little during testosterone treatment in the two adenoma patients so treated. Immunohistochemical study of the adenomas from two patients demonstrated definite staining with -subunit and gonadotropin antisera. Elevated plasma levels of -subunit and its relative unresponsiveness to LHRH stimulation or testosterone suppression suggest that the a-subunit originated in tumor tissue and that its measurement is useful for the diagnosis of a gonadotropin-producing tumor in patients with elevated plasma levels of LH and/or FSH. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab63: 564, 1986

^_* This work was supported in part by a Research Grant for Intractable Diseases from the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare.

To whom requests for reprints should be addressed.

Received August 20, 1985.

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