ORIGINAL PAPER Investigation of Soluble HER2 and Transforming Growth Factor Beta-1 Serum Levels in Gestational Trophoblastic Disease Alamtaj Samsami Dehaghani & Neda Rahimi Rad & Mohammad Javad Fattahi & Baharak Khadang & Mohammad Amin Kashef & Zahra Sarraf & Abbas Ghaderi Received: 30 August 2008 / Accepted: 15 October 2008 / Published online: 31 October 2008 # Arányi Lajos Foundation 2008 Abstract HER2/neu and TGF-β1 are over-expressed in various types of malignancies. It appears that they play an important role in the biologic behavior of tumors and have prognostic value. Gestational tropoblastic diseases (GTDs) comprise of a heterogeneous group characterized by abnormally proliferating trophoblastic tissues, ranging from benign to malignant. The objective of this study was to measure and compare the serum levels of s-HER2 and TGF-β between patients with GTDs and pregnant and non- pregnant controls. Serum levels of s-HER2 and TGF-β1 were determined by ELISA method in 95 GTD patients (55 complete moles, 32 persistent moles, and 8 choriocarcino- ma), 30 normal pregnant controls, and 22 normal non- pregnant controls. Mean serum level of s-HER2 did not differ significantly between patients and controls. TGF-β1 serum level was significantly higher in GTD patients (20.29±10.68 pg/ml with 95% confidence interval (CI) of 18.10–22.48 pg/ml) compared with pregnant controls (10.26±11.84 pg/ml with 95% CI of 5.75–14.76 pg/ml) and non-pregnant controls (7.27±9.61 pg/ml with 95% CI of 3.01–11.53 pg/ml) (P <0.001). Our findings suggest that TGF-β1 serum levels in GTD patients may represent a potential prognostic marker. Further investigations with larger sample size and more frequent sampling are required to elucidate this issue. Keywords HER2 . TGF-β1 . Gestational trophoblastic disease Introduction Gestational trophoblastic diseases (GTDs) consist of a spectrum of disorders characterized by an abnormal proliferation of trophoblastic tissue. GTDs include hydatidi- form mole (complete and partial), invasive mole, chorio- carcinoma, and two rare variants called placental site trophoblastic tumor (PSTT) and epithelioid trophoblastic tumor (ETT). It is considered today the most curable gynecologic cancer [1, 2]. HER2/neu oncogene (also known as c-erbB-2) is a member of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family. It is over-expressed in various types of cancers including breast, ovarian, lung, gastric, and oral cancers; it is one of the biomarkers used as a prognostic and predictive factor in some solid malignancies [3]. Clinical and molecular studies suggest that increased soluble HER2 (s- HER2) expression may contribute to disease progression by mediating angiogenesis, metabolic adaptation, and other aspects of metastasis that define the cancer phenotype [4]. Increased expression of HER2/neu in breast cancer cells results in transactivation of EGFR family [5]. Several investigations have shown that over-expression of HER2 Pathol. Oncol. Res. (2009) 15:37–40 DOI 10.1007/s12253-008-9115-z A. S. Dehaghani (*) : N. R. Rad : Z. Sarraf Department of Obstetric and Gynecology, Hafez hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, 71345-1798, Shiraz, Iran e-mail: samsamia@sums.ac.ir M. J. Fattahi : B. Khadang : M. A. Kashef : A. Ghaderi Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran A. Ghaderi Department of Immunology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran