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. 2012 Mar 28;10:24. doi: 10.1186/1477-7827-10-24

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Copyright ©2012 Cole; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Proposed pathways of free ß-subunit and hyperglycosylated hCG in advanced cancer cases. As illustrated, free ß-subunit and hyperglycosylated hCG are hCG variants with exposed TGFß binding structures [1-4,6], these are autocrines which antagonize the TGFß receptor, promoting cell growth and blocking cell apoptosis. As a result of the antagonism, collagenases and metalloproteinases are produced by cells [94,95]. As illustrated, cells secrete hCG free ß-subunit or hyperglycosylated hCG. This enters the circulation and rotates around the body. hCG free ß-subunit of hyperglycosylated hCG then bind back on a receptor on the cancer cells, a TGFß receptor, and antagonize this receptor. As a result cell growth is promoted, and cell apoptosis is blocked. Cell secrete collagenases and metalloproteinases.