Urinary gonadotropin fragments (UGF) in cancers of the female reproductive system. I. Sensitivity and specificity, comparison with other markers

Abstract

UGF is a mixture of human chorionic gonadotropin free beta-subunit and its fragments, and is detected in pregnancy and trophoblast disease urines. An examination of 67 nonpregnant cancer-free women showed average urine levels of 0.13 ng/ml. Six of the 67 (8.9%) had levels exceeding a selected cutoff value, 0.2 ng/ml. Of 112 woman with active gynecologic cancer, 72 (64%) had urine UGF levels exceeding this cutoff value. When urines were limited to those with creatinine greater than 0.5 mg/ml, or to first morning samples (mean creatinine 1.0 ng/ml), the sensitivity of UGF for all gynecologic cancers was raised to 76%. The sensitivity of UGF for cervical (73%), for endometrial (65%), and for ovarian (83%) cancers exceeded that of plasma CA 125 and lipid-associated sialic acid in plasma (LASA) in the same population. UGF is an exciting new tumor marker which warrants further evaluation.