The postnatal presence of human chorionic gonadotropin in preterm infants and its potential inverse association with retinopathy of prematurity

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and luteinizing hormone (LH) are pro-angiogenic gonadotropic hormones, which classically target the reproductive organs. However, hCG, LH, and their shared CG/LH receptor are also present in the human eye. The possibility that a deficiency of these hormones may be involved in the pathogenesis of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) during its early non-proliferative phase has not been explored. We conducted a cross-sectional study of Michigan-born preterm infants utilizing dried blood spots. We analyzed hCG and LH blood levels at 1 week and 4 weeks of age from 113 study participants (60 without ROP; 53 with non-proliferative ROP). We utilized electrochemiluminescence assays on the Mesoscale Discovery platform. Similar levels of hCG are found in preterm infants at both 1 week and 4 weeks after birth. Preterm infants with non-proliferative ROP, after adjusting for sex and gestational age, have 2.42 [95% CI: 1.08–5.40] times the odds of having low hCG at fourth week of age. We found that hCG is present postnatally in preterm infants and that a deficiency of hCG at 4 weeks of age is potentially associated with non-proliferative ROP. This provides novel evidence to suggest that hCG may participate in human retinal angiogenesis.