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. 1989 Sep;60(3):382–384. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1989.289

Human chorionic gonadotropin in colorectal cancer and its relationship to prognosis.

A Yamaguchi 1, T Ishida 1, G Nishimura 1, T Kumaki 1, M Katoh 1, T Kosaka 1, Y Yonemura 1, I Miyazaki 1
PMCID: PMC2247188  PMID: 2789946

Abstract

The presence of human chorionic gonadotropin in large bowel cancers was studied immunohistochemically using an immunoperoxidase technique. HCG-positive tumour cells were present in 42 of 194 adenocarcinomas examined (22.0% of colon cancer and 21.2% of rectal cancers). On histological grading, the hCG-positive rate tended to rise as the degree of differentiation decreased. HCG was detected more frequently in cancers invading the total bowel wall (27%) than in those invading the partial wall (17.1%). Lymph node, liver or peritoneal metastases were present more frequently in hCG-positive tumours than in hCG-negative tumours. Furthermore, there was an intimate correlation between the presence of hCG-positive tumour cells and CEA doubling times in nine cases with untreated liver metastasis. The survival rate for patients with tissue hCG-positive cells was lower than for those with hCG-negative tumours. Thus, the presence of tissue hCG in colorectal cancers may be a biological marker of prognostic significance.

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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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