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Lutropin (LH), follitropin (FSH), thyrotropin (TSH) and choriogonadotropin (CG) are assembled of two non-covalently alpha (α) and beta (β) subunits. We studied the discontinuous antigenic regions recognized by a monoclonal anti-hLH antibody designated as LH05 which binds to hLH, hCG and hTSH and does not cross-react with either the free subunits or hFSH. LH05 and an antibody designated HT13, recognizing an epitope partly comprizing the α64–76 region, did not bind simultaneously to hCG. Furthermore, LH05 was unable to combine with an anti-peptide antibody (LHP03) directed to residues 43–52 of hLHβ. Thus, LH05 recognizes an epitope partly overlapping with those recognized by HT13 and LHP03. Using various hybrid molecules, we showed that the human α-subunit plays a critical role in the assembly of the epitope that, in contrast, contains a...

The equine (e) placental glycoprotein hormone eCG plays a critical though not completely understood role during the first trimester of gestation in mares. In the present work, we have developed immunoradiometric assays (m-IRMAs) for detection of eCG, eCG alpha, and eCG beta using combinations of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific for epitopes that reside on free and/or combined subunits. The free eCG alpha m-IRMA was based on AHT20 mAb, specific for the free alpha-subunit of all species, and 125I-labeled ECG01 mAb, which recognizes both free and combined alpha-subunit from equine and primate species. The free eCG beta was measured by the combination of FBT11 mAb, which binds to free beta-subunit from human and equine species, and radiolabeled 518B7 mAb, which detects CG/LH from diverse mammalian species. This assay provided a better...