@ Big T: Jouw redenatie gaat niet helemaal op. Dat "human" staat voor het feit dat dit eiwithormoon de specifieke samenstelling voor mensen. Andere diersoorten hebben dit hormoon ook (bv. koeien --> bovine chorionic gonadotropin). Chorionic slaat op het feit dat het hormoon door de placenta wordt afgegeven. Hetzelfde geldt voor insuline: dit kan humaan van oorsprong zijn, van varkens komen en ook genetisch (recombinant) geproduceerd zijn.
Het maakt voor biochemici niet veel uit waaruit ze het eiwitmateriaal winnen. Ze zouden HCG ook uit de moederkoek zelf kunnen halen. Dit verandert niets aan de structuur van het eiwit dus blijft het HCG.
Er zijn inderdaad risicos verbonden aan het gebruik van humaan gewonnen eiwitten zoals virusziektes en prionziektes. De introductie van dit artikel geeft enige uitleg over de achtergrond en productie van HCG:
"The first preparations of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) were investigated in the late 1930s (Lunenfeld and Insler, 1999). Subsequent studies and improved preparation of HCG from the urine of pregnant women (uHCG), where its abundance allowed ease of extraction, meant that for almost 40 years it has been the sole hormonal preparation commercially marketed for induction of ovulation in anovulatory women. For the last two decades women undergoing assisted reproductive treatment have also used uHCG to induce the final maturation of follicles and oocytes before their collection and additionally to support the luteal phase of the cycle. Urinary HCG has also been used widely for women at risk of recurrent miscarriage or threatened abortion but this use is more controversial (Karamardian and Grimes, 1992).
The history of gonadotrophin use when derived from either animal or human tissues has, however, not always been without clinical danger (e.g. antibody formation from pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin; Creutzfeld–Jacob disease from human pituitary gonadotrophin) so, as recombinant technology evolved, the logic of increasing both a compound's purity and safety could not be ignored. Such a uniform, specific product would mean that drug production would no longer be dependent on the vagaries of urine collection and hormone extraction, allowing commercial production to be adjusted according to market requirements. In addition all urinary contaminants would also be removed. Furthermore this would allow the safe s.c. administration of a compound with less batch-to-batch variation than has been demonstrated for urinary menopausal gonadotrophin preparations (Rodgers et al., 1995) and thus potentially improve biological efficiency. These premises have been extensively reviewed (Fauser, 1998; Loumaye et al., 1998; Prevost, 1998; Daya and Gunby, 1999).
Recombinant HCG (rHCG) has been manufactured by transfecting non-human cell lines (Chinese hamster ovary cells) with genetic material capable of replicating identical amino acid sequences to the human compound and developed as a pharmaceutical product named Ovidrel®. The clinical uses of HCG are based on its molecular similarity to LH where the first 114 amino acids of each compound share 80% homology. The structural similarity of both compounds is further functionally reflected by the fact that they bind to the same hormone receptor (Pierce and Parson, 1981)."
Bron:
Human Reproduction, Vol. 15, No. 6, 1305-1310, June 2000
A prospective, randomized, controlled, double-blind, double-dummy comparison of recombinant and urinary HCG for inducing oocyte maturation and follicular luteinization in ovarian stimulation
G.L. Driscoll1, J.P.P. Tyler1,3, J.T. Hangan1, P.R. Fisher2, M.A. Birdsall2 and D.C. Knight1