title: Serum AFP and AFP-L3 in clinically distinguished hepatocellular carcinoma from patients with liver masses.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the ability of alpha fetoprotein (AFP) and AFP-L3% serum level in discriminating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from other types of liver mass.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was performed according to a prospective-specimen-collection, retrospective-blinded-evaluation (PRoBE) design. A total of 109 HCC patients and 51 patients with other types of liver mass were consecutively selected. The levels of AFP and AFP-L3% in their sera were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  AFP levels in serum significantly elevated while AFP-L3% levels significantly decreased in HCC patients (AFP: p < 0.001, AFP-L3%: p < 0.001). The area under the curve (AUC) of a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis for the diagnosis of HCC of AFP and AFP-L3% was 0.71 and 0.67, respectively. In addition, the serum level of AFP-L3% was significantly different between the small (mass occupying lesser than 50% of liver volume) and large (mass occupying more than 50% of liver volume) HCC (p = 0.040).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The diagnostic accuracy of serum AFP and AFP-L3% could provide them as candidate biomarkers to discriminate patients with HCC from patients with other types of liver mass. Serum AFP-L3% as a prognostic factor for HCC should be further evaluated in more details.
authors: Department of Surgery, Rajavithi Hospital, College of Medicine, Rangsit University, Bangkok, Thailand. somboonsub@hotmail.com
authors: Somboon
authors: S
authors: Subwongcharoen
authors: Kawin
authors: K
authors: Leelawat
authors: Sa-ard
authors: SA
authors: Treepongkaruna
authors: Siriluck
authors: S
authors: Narong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D037102:Lectins / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D037102:Lectins; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins