Serum glycoprotein hormone alpha subunit, hormone receptors and disease stage in patients with breast cancer.

The concentration of the common alpha subunit of the glycoprotein hormones was high in the serum of 21/56 (38%) of premenopausal patients and 22/106 (21%) of postmenopausal patients with primary breast cancer, at the time of presentation. 7/59 (12%) of patients with benign disease also had high alpha subunit levels. Tumour cytosol oestrogen and progesterone receptor status was determined in 80% of the patients with cancer, and there was a trend towards higher alpha levels in patients without receptors, but this was not statistically significant. In the premenopausal patients with cancer there was a significant correlation between alpha subunit level and disease stage, R = 0.47, P = 0.0001, but not in the postmenopausal patients. In view of the correlation with disease stage, high levels of alpha subunit in premenopausal patients with breast cancer at presentation with the primary tumour may indicate poor prognosis.