ABSTRACT
@EN The pituitary glycoprotein hormones are composed of noncovalently bond α and β subunit, and the α-subunit is very indistinguishable structure. Hypersecretion of α-subunit has been reported in patients with pituitary adenoma, particulary
in
clinically nonfunctioning adenomas. We evaluated the serum α-subunit levels in 20 normal men, 20 premenopausal women, 20 postmenopausal women and 21 patients with pituitary adenoma (8 acromegalies, 6 prolactinomas, 2 TSH-secreting adenomas and 3
nonfunctioning adenomas) by immunoradiometric assay. Also we measured the α-subunit response to TRH stimulation in 7 patients with pituitary adenoma. The serum α-subunit level in normal men was 0.19±0.17 (mean±SD) mIU/ml; normal premenopausal
women,
0.21±0.16 mIU/ml; normal postmenopausal women, 0.61±0.35 mIU/ml. And the normal range of α-subunit was 0-0.53 mIU/ml, 0-0.53 mIU/ml and 0-1.31 mIU/ml in men, premenopausal, and postmenopausal women, respectively. Two of 8 acromegalies and 1 of
2
TSH-secreting pituitary adenomas had elevated the level of α-subunit. The α-subunit secretion was slightly elevated to the response of TRH administration in pituitary adenomas. In one patient with TSH-secreting pituitary adenoma, basal serum
α-subunit was 0.96 mIU/ml, after surgical removal of adenoma, the α-subunit level decreased to 0.07 mIU/ml. These results support that α-subunit is produced by various pituitary adenomas with or without concomitant production of glycoprotein
hormones, and the α-subunit is a useful marker for diagnosis and response to therapy in patient with pituitary adenoma. (J Kor Endocrinol 8:127~128, 1993)
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