Effects of urinary gonadotrophin preparations on human in-vitro immune function

Among commercially available urinary human menopausal gonadotrophin (HMG) m aterial, gonadotrophins comprise <5% of the total protein content, Thus, du ring a typical ovarian stimulation cycle with HMG, several milligrams of no n-relevant proteins are administered that may lead to unwanted side effects , including allergic or other hypersensitivity reactions. The effects of tw o recombinant and four urinary gonadotrophin preparations of different puri ty upon the function of T cells from healthy blood donors were studied. Onl y one of the HMG preparations significantly enhanced the spontaneous prolif eration of peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Phytohaemagglutinin-induced proliferation was not modified by any preparation, while two preparations s ignificantly increased proliferation in the mixed lymphocyte reaction. Thre e of the HMG preparations induced the release of interleukin (IL)-1, Highly purified FSH, either urinary or recombinant, showed no effect. None of the preparations induced detectable IL-2 production, whereas only one HMG prep aration tended to decrease IL-2 secretion. No major changes in CD25 express ion were induced by any of the gonadotrophins. Cytokine measurement by immu noassays detected only IL-1 beta in two commercially available preparations . The various effects exhibited by the crude urinary preparations were not a result of the gonadotrophin content and differed from product to product, suggesting that the contaminants present in these preparations are not ide ntical. This could contribute to unpredictable clinical manifestations of a llergic or other immune reactions.