早孕因子的研究进展

Progress in study on early pregnancy factor

早孕因子是具有免疫抑制活性和生长调节活性的妊娠相关蛋白,为目前最早确认妊娠的生化指标之一。目前普遍认为它是细胞伴侣蛋白10的类似物,但两者存在的部位及作用方式不同。除妊娠母体血清外,在某些肿瘤组织及再生肝细胞中也存在早孕因子,说明其还具有类似生长因子的活性。近年来随着早孕因子生化特性的逐步明确及其检测方法的改进,使得早孕因子在超早孕诊断、流产预测、某些肿瘤的早期诊断和预后判断及自身免疫性疾病的治疗等方面有了广泛的临床应用前景。

Early pregnancy factor(EPF) is a pregnancy-associated protein that has immuno-suppressive and growth-regulatory activities.It is regarded as a biochemical index by which super-early pregnancy can be determined.At present,because amino acid sequence of EPF is highly homologous to that of chaperonin 10(Cpn 10),universally,it is thought an analogue of Cpn 10,though they are different from each other in existing location and mode of action.Beside in serum,EPF can also be found in certain tumor tissues and regenerative liver cells,that is to say,EPF has some growth factor like activities.As gradual understanding of its biochemical characteristics and improvement in its detecting technique,EPF has extensive application prospects in clinic,for example,it is applied in diagnosis of super-early pregnancy,prediction of abortion,early diagnosis and prognostic estimation of tumors,treatment of autoimmune diseases,and so on.