Sex hormone status of male patients with rheumatoid arthritis: evidence of low serum concentrations of testosterone at baseline and after human chorionic gonadotropin stimulation

1988 ◽  
Vol 31 (10) ◽  
pp. 1314-1317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Cutolo ◽  
Enrico Balleari ◽  
Massimo Giusti ◽  
Mario Monachesi ◽  
Silvano Accardo
Keyword(s):  
Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽  
Chorionic Gonadotropin ◽  
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin ◽  
Sex Hormone ◽  
Serum Concentrations ◽  
Gonadotropin Stimulation ◽  
Hormone Status ◽  
Male Patients ◽  
Low Serum

Does tumor-derived human chorionic gonadotropin act as a thyroid stimulator in vivo?

1993 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Madersbacher ◽  
S Schwarz ◽  
K Mann ◽  
R Klieber ◽  
G Wick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chorionic Gonadotropin ◽  
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin ◽  
Testicular Tumor ◽  
Thyroid Stimulating Hormone ◽  
Serum Concentrations ◽  
Thyroid Status ◽  
Thyroxine Binding Globulin ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Physiological Values

Abstract To evaluate in vivo the proposed intrinsic thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) activity (TSA) of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), we monitored over 0.5-1 years the thyroid status of eight patients with hCG-producing non-seminomatous testicular cancer. The patients' sera were analyzed for concentrations of hCG, free thyroxine (fT4), hTSH, and thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG). All patients had excessively high concentrations of hCG (1 x 10(5)-5 x 10(8) ng/L, mean: 1 x 10(7) ng/L) before polychemotherapy, which decreased under successful therapy to physiological values (< 240 ng/L). Although the serum concentrations of hCG varied by more than six orders of magnitude, we saw no changes and no correlation (P > 0.05) between the concentrations of hCG and the concentrations of fT4 and hTSH. Not even when hCG concentrations were greatest (> 5 x 10(7) ng/L) were any signs of hyperthyroidism observed: fT4 (3.5-13 ng/L) and hTSH (9-700 ng/L) were in the physiological range in all patients and remained so during chemotherapy. The results of this longitudinal study were confirmed in analyzing the data for all eight patients (total: 82 samples) cross-sectionally. Again, we found no correlation (P > 0.05) between the concentrations of hCG and fT4 or hCG and hTSH. We conclude that even excessive amounts of testicular tumor-derived hCG do not display any TSH-like activity in vivo.

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