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Human Chorionic Gonadotropin and Free Subunits' Serum Levels in Patients With Partial and Complete Hydatidiform Moles

From the New England Trophoblastic Disease Center, the Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, the Cancer Center, Molecular Hepatology Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

Abstract

Serum levels of hCG and its free subunits were measured in patients with partial and complete hydatidiform moles and in women with normal 10-week pregnancies. Whereas complete moles had higher levels of percent-free ß-hCG than partial moles (2.4 versus 1.0; P .005), partial moles had higher levels of percent-free -hCG than complete moles (0.85 versus 0.17; P .005). Normal 10-week pregnancies had lower levels of both percent-free ß-hCG and percentfree -hCG than partial moles (0.40 versus 1.0, P .005 and 0.27 versus 0.85, P .005, respectively). Percent-free ß-hCG and ß-hCG levels did not distinguish which patients with complete mole were more likely to develop persistent postmolar tumor. The trophoblastic cells in complete and partial moles differ significantly in the manner in which they secrete the free subunits of hCG.

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