{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T09:16:00Z","timestamp":1782378960659,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,16]],"date-time":"2021-03-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1615852800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005111","name":"Rigshospitalet","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["xx"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["xx"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005111","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Novo-Nordisk Foundation","award":["00"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["00"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003035","name":"Aase og Ejnar Danielsens Fond","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["00"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["00"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003035","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001825","name":"Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["00"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["00"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001825","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cancers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Luteinizing hormone (LH) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) are agonists for the luteinizing hormone receptor (LHCGR) which regulates male reproductive function. LHCGR may be released into body fluids. We wish to determine whether soluble LHCGR is a marker for gonadal function. Cross-sectional, longitudinal, and intervention studies on 195 healthy boys and men and 396 men with infertility, anorchia, or Klinefelter Syndrome (KS) were used to correlate LHCGR measured in serum, seminal fluid, urine, and hepatic\/renal artery and vein with gonadal function. LHCGR was determined in fluids from in vitro and in vivo models of human testicular tissue and cell lines, xenograft mouse models, and human fetal kidney and adrenal glands. Western blot showed LHCGR fragments in serum and gonadal tissue of similar size using three different antibodies. The LHCGR-ELISA had no species cross-reactivity or unspecific reaction in mouse serum even after human xenografting. Instead, sLHCGR was released into the media after the culture of a human fetal kidney and adrenal glands. Serum sLHCGR decreased markedly during puberty in healthy boys (p = 0.0001). In healthy men, serum sLHCGR was inversely associated with the Inhibin B\/FSH ratio (\u03b2 \u22120.004, p = 0.027). In infertile men, seminal fluid sLHCGR was inversely associated with serum FSH (\u03b2 0.006, p = 0.009), sperm concentration (\u03b2 \u22123.5, p = 0.003) and total sperm count (\u03b2 \u22123.2, p = 0.007). The injection of hCG lowered sLHCGR in serum and urine of healthy men (p &lt; 0.01). In conclusion, sLHCGR is released into body-fluids and linked with pubertal development and gonadal function. Circulating sLHCGR in anorchid men suggests that sLHCGR in serum may originate from and possibly exert actions in non-gonadal tissues. (ClinicalTrials: NTC01411527, NCT01304927, NCT03418896).<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cancers13061329","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,16]],"date-time":"2021-03-16T12:04:00Z","timestamp":1615896240000},"page":"1329","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Possible Relevance of Soluble Luteinizing Hormone Receptor during Development and Adulthood in Boys and Men"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8995-9116","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Li","family":"Juel Mortensen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Group of Skeletal, Mineral and Gonadal Endocrinology, University Department of Growth and Reproduction, Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mette","family":"Lorenzen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Group of Skeletal, Mineral and Gonadal Endocrinology, University Department of Growth and Reproduction, Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anne","family":"J\u00f8rgensen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Growth and Reproduction and International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jakob","family":"Albrethsen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Growth and Reproduction and International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4827-0838","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Niels","family":"J\u00f8rgensen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Growth and Reproduction and International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"S\u00f8ren","family":"M\u00f8ller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine 260, Hvidovre Hospital, 2650 Copenhagen, Denmark"},{"name":"Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Copenhagen University, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anna-Maria","family":"Andersson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Growth and Reproduction and International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anders","family":"Juul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Growth and Reproduction and International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark"},{"name":"Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Copenhagen University, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Martin","family":"Blomberg Jensen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Group of Skeletal, Mineral and Gonadal Endocrinology, University Department of Growth and Reproduction, Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark"},{"name":"Division of Bone and Mineral Research, Harvard School of Dental Medicine\/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"461","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.physiol.60.1.461","article-title":"The luteinizing hormone receptor","volume":"60","author":"Dufau","year":"1998","journal-title":"Annu. 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