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. 1982 Jul;46(1):22–29. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1982.160

Enhancement of human chorionic gonadotrophin production by antimetabolites.

P Browne, K D Bagshawe
PMCID: PMC2011062  PMID: 7201846

Abstract

The action of methotrexate, actinomycin D, bleomycin, vincristine and hydroxyurea on the production of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) by a choriocarcinoma cell line (BeWo) has been studied. hCG production per unit of cell protein was increased, and this was a continuing process only halted by cell death. The proportion of hCG-producing cells in the population increased from approximately 5% to a maximum of approximately 40% during incubation with vincristine. A possible explanation for these and related observations is that cytotoxic agents promote the differentiation of cytotrophoblast to syncytium. A similar mechanism could contribute to the unusual sensitivity of choriocarcinoma to cytotoxic agents.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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