In response to Adrian O Vladutiu's response,
Actually, the false positives only occurred in serum - hypothetically
caused by human anti-species antibodies: the serum "hCG" was high, but the
urine was not elevated (presumably because the heterophile Abs were not
filtered).
I'd very much like some of her serum/urine sent to us for measurement on
our RIA. If the levels in urine are elevated, it's likely to be in the form
of the beta-core fragment of hCG which is cleared very rapidly from serum
and is mainly found in urine.
Although I'd be surprised if a commercial kit was able to detect beta-core
in urine.
Hugh Mitchell
Medical Oncology
Charing X Hospital
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