The Clinical Value of the Serum and Urinary Levels of beta-HCG in Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the Bladder

Lee, Sang Ik; Oh, Tae Hee; Shim, Hi Young

Abstract

It has been reported that beta-HCG is produced in the transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder and measuring of its level can be used as a tumor marker. We measured the serum and urinary levels of beta-HCG in the patients with the transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder and analysed the relationship to the clinical stage and histological grade and its significance as a tumor marker. The levels of the beta-HCG in the serum and early morning urine were measured in 40 cases of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder and 37 cases of control group. Double-antibody immunometric assay (Coat-A-Count HCG IRMA) using I-labeled anti HCG antibody and monoclonal anti HCG antibody were used. The mean levels of the serum and urinary f-HCG in control group were 1.2mIU/ml, 1.4mIU/ ml and 3.6mIU/ml, 6.0mIU/ml in patient group, which showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups(p<0.05). In patient group, the levels of the serum and urinary beta- HCG were 2.9mIU/ml and 3.5mIU/ml in the superficial tumor, 2.6mIU/ml and 7.0mIU/ml in the invasive tumor and 7.5mIU/ml and 9.9mIU/ml in the metastatic tumor, showing a statistically significant increase as the clinical stage was advanced(p <0.05). The levels of the serum and urinary beta-HCG were 3.3mIU/ml and 1.3mIU/ml in grade I, 2.9mIU/ml and 5.9mIU/ml in grade II and 4.7mIU/ml and 7.6mIU/ml in grade III, which did not demonstrate a significant relationship to the histological grade(p>0.05). We think that the serum and urinary levels of beta-HCG in the transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder are related to the tumor stage but not to the histological grade and in the metastatic tumor urinary beta-HCG level can be used as a reliable tumor marker.