Identification of an hCG Isoform Which Is Similar in Sequence to a Bile Salt-Stimulated Lipase.

During the protein identification and quantitation of human breast milk samples, an hCG isoform was identified using an NCBI human database, but a further look into the protein sequence by running an NCBI BLAST revealed the similarity to a human bile salt-stimulated lipase protein. Here we used known protein databases to determine whether or not the identified protein is truly an hCG isoform or is actually a bile salt-stimulated lipase protein instead. Using NCBI BLAST, NCBI Align, UniProt Align, and ExPasy Align, we determined that the hCG isoform identified is more similar to the bile salt-stimulated lipase. Therefore, we are suggesting the hCG isoform with an NCBI accession number of gi|119608441 should be renamed to be a partial bile salt-stimulated lipase.