Anton Kalyuzhnyy, Hidenori Toyoda, Philip J Johnson
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Establishing alpha-fetoprotein reference ranges in patients with chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma.
Background: Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is the primary serum biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the current diagnostic AFP thresholds for HCC are arbitrary and the definitive reference range has never been identified. Furthermore, some HCCs are AFP-negative, implying that these tumours do not synthesise AFP, making them difficult to characterise and diagnose.
Methods: By analysing AFP distribution in over 4500 patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) from Japan and UK with and without HCC, as well as in a population of healthy patients without CLD, we defined accurate AFP reference ranges for HCC and characterised a group of AFP-negative HCC patients.
Results: We identified 40 ng/mL as the upper AFP limit for CLD patients without HCC, indicating that HCC can be accurately diagnosed above this threshold with minimal risk of false positives. Furthermore, the upper AFP limit for the healthy population was 5 ng/mL which was used to characterise AFP-negative HCC patients. By this definition, 15 % of HCC patients were AFP-negative. Those patients had significantly better survival after diagnosis compared to their AFP-positive counterparts irrespective of treatment.
Discussion: Our established AFP reference ranges provide an accurate cutoff for HCC diagnosis and can also be used to identify AFP-negative HCCs.
期刊介绍:
HPB is an international forum for clinical, scientific and educational communication.
Twelve issues a year bring the reader leading articles, expert reviews, original articles, images, editorials, and reader correspondence encompassing all aspects of benign and malignant hepatobiliary disease and its management. HPB features relevant aspects of clinical and translational research and practice.
Specific areas of interest include HPB diseases encountered globally by clinical practitioners in this specialist field of gastrointestinal surgery. The journal addresses the challenges faced in the management of cancer involving the liver, biliary system and pancreas. While surgical oncology represents a large part of HPB practice, submission of manuscripts relating to liver and pancreas transplantation, the treatment of benign conditions such as acute and chronic pancreatitis, and those relating to hepatobiliary infection and inflammation are also welcomed. There will be a focus on developing a multidisciplinary approach to diagnosis and treatment with endoscopic and laparoscopic approaches, radiological interventions and surgical techniques being strongly represented. HPB welcomes submission of manuscripts in all these areas and in scientific focused research that has clear clinical relevance to HPB surgical practice.
HPB aims to help its readers - surgeons, physicians, radiologists and basic scientists - to develop their knowledge and practice. HPB will be of interest to specialists involved in the management of hepatobiliary and pancreatic disease however will also inform those working in related fields.
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HPB is owned by the International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (IHPBA) and is also the official Journal of the American Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (AHPBA), the Asian-Pacific Hepato Pancreatic Biliary Association (A-PHPBA) and the European-African Hepato-Pancreatic Biliary Association (E-AHPBA).