Selective expression of trophoblastic hormones by lung carcinoma: neurendocrine tumors exclusively produce human chorionic gonadotropin alpha-subunit (hCGalpha).

Recent findings suggest that glycoprotein- and protein hormones act as local auto/paracrine growth/differentiation factors in normal and malignant tissue. An imbalanced or even selective production of human chorionic gonadotropin-alpha (hCGalpha) by neuroendocrine tumors in various organs has been reported. In this context, the ectopic production of trophoblastic hormones by lung carcinoma has not been investigated systemically.

Effects of adequate versus inadequate treatment of cutaneous manifestations of Lyme borreliosis on the incidence of late complications and late serologic status.

Eighty-two patients who were treated at the Department of Dermatology, Innsbruck, Austria, from 1980 to 1987 for cutaneous manifestations of Lyme disease were subjected to a clinical follow-up investigation aimed at detecting dermatologic, neurologic, and internal late complications of borreliosis. Only 54 of these patients had received adequate antibiotic treatment according to current standards. Also, their sera were investigated for the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies by an indirect immunofluorescence assay, three different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, and immunoblotting.