Wing Hang Woo, Khairul Najmi Muhammad Nawawi, Deborah Chia Hsin Chew, Wei Hao Kok, Zhiqin Wong, Azlanudin Azman, Nur Yazmin Yaacob, Munirah Md Mansor, Hanita Othman, Raja Affendi Raja Ali
{"title":"The GALAD score performs better than AFP in hepatocellular carcinoma screening: a single-centre, case-control study in Malaysia.","authors":"Wing Hang Woo, Khairul Najmi Muhammad Nawawi, Deborah Chia Hsin Chew, Wei Hao Kok, Zhiqin Wong, Azlanudin Azman, Nur Yazmin Yaacob, Munirah Md Mansor, Hanita Othman, Raja Affendi Raja Ali","doi":"10.5114/ceh.2025.148321","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aim of the study: </strong>Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Malaysia is a growing health concern, despite regular liver ultrasound and α-fetoprotein (AFP) surveillance. The GALAD model incorporates AFP, lens culinaris agglutinin- reactive α-fetoprotein (AFP-L3), protein induced by vitamin K antagonist-II (PIVKA-II), gender and age to predict the probability of HCC. Our objective was to evaluate the diagnostic ability of GALAD compared to AFP in HCC screening.</p><p><strong>Material and methods: </strong>A single-centre, case control study recruited newly diagnosed HCC and cirrhotic patients. Serum biomarkers were quantified using a microfluidic-based automated immunoanalyzer. The diagnostic ability of AFP, AFP-L3, PIVKA-II and GALAD was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) and corresponding area under the curve (AUC) analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Among the 44 HCC cases, GALAD score achieved the highest AUC value of 0.94 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.90-0.98, <i>p</i> < 0.0001) significantly surpassing AFP (0.89), AFP-L3 (0.84) and PIVKA-II (0.88). The GALAD score demonstrated 84.1% sensitivity and 93.8% specificity at the standard cut-off (-0.63) and 88.6%/92.2% at its best cut-off (-1.035) for detecting any stage of HCC, outperforming AFP (79.5%/92.2%), AFP-L3 (59.1%/94.9%) and PIVKA-II (79.5%/84.9%). The sensitivity of the GALAD score was 100% in earlystage HCC (BCLC0/A).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>GALAD outperformed conventional biomarkers, facilitating early detection, improved treatment options and ultimately a higher survival rate for HCC patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":10281,"journal":{"name":"Clinical and Experimental Hepatology","volume":"11 1","pages":"81-87"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12035704/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Clinical and Experimental Hepatology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5114/ceh.2025.148321","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/3/25 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"GASTROENTEROLOGY & HEPATOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Aim of the study: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Malaysia is a growing health concern, despite regular liver ultrasound and α-fetoprotein (AFP) surveillance. The GALAD model incorporates AFP, lens culinaris agglutinin- reactive α-fetoprotein (AFP-L3), protein induced by vitamin K antagonist-II (PIVKA-II), gender and age to predict the probability of HCC. Our objective was to evaluate the diagnostic ability of GALAD compared to AFP in HCC screening.
Material and methods: A single-centre, case control study recruited newly diagnosed HCC and cirrhotic patients. Serum biomarkers were quantified using a microfluidic-based automated immunoanalyzer. The diagnostic ability of AFP, AFP-L3, PIVKA-II and GALAD was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) and corresponding area under the curve (AUC) analysis.
Results: Among the 44 HCC cases, GALAD score achieved the highest AUC value of 0.94 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.90-0.98, p < 0.0001) significantly surpassing AFP (0.89), AFP-L3 (0.84) and PIVKA-II (0.88). The GALAD score demonstrated 84.1% sensitivity and 93.8% specificity at the standard cut-off (-0.63) and 88.6%/92.2% at its best cut-off (-1.035) for detecting any stage of HCC, outperforming AFP (79.5%/92.2%), AFP-L3 (59.1%/94.9%) and PIVKA-II (79.5%/84.9%). The sensitivity of the GALAD score was 100% in earlystage HCC (BCLC0/A).
Conclusions: GALAD outperformed conventional biomarkers, facilitating early detection, improved treatment options and ultimately a higher survival rate for HCC patients.
期刊介绍:
Clinical and Experimental Hepatology – quarterly of the Polish Association for Study of Liver – is a scientific and educational, peer-reviewed journal publishing original and review papers describing clinical and basic investigations in the field of hepatology.