Figure 5.

Effect of hCGβ mutations on the formation of the hCG heterodimer as determined by immunoassays. The total β-subunit (free β-monomers + β-subunit fraction assembled into the hCGα/β heterodimer) in CHO cell culture media was quantified on the Elecsys 1010 system and the quantity of assembled α/β heterodimer only was determined with the intact hCG-specific ELISA assay. The data points represent the measurements of duplicate independent transfections. For each hCGβ mutation, the mean ratio of the assembled to the total β-subunits was calculated and compared with the wild-type (=100%). The P-value was calculated using Student's t-test. Circles indicate the concentration of the total β-subunit (mIU/ml) and triangles the concentration of assembled heterodimeric hCG (pg/ml) in the medium.