Diagnostic value of alpha-l-fucosidase for hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is the primary marker for detecting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and has been used widely in the clinic, but AFP is a biomarker characterized by poor sensitivity and specificity. Alpha-l-fucosidase (AFU) has been proposed as a tumor marker for diagnosis of HCC in many studies. However, conclusions of its diagnostic value are inconsistent. The current review aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of AFU for HCC. After systematic review of 12 related studies, sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were pooled using random-effect models. Summary receiver operating characteristic (sROC) curve analysis was used to summarize the overall test performance. The pooled sensitivity for AFU was 0.72 (95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.69–0.76), while the pooled specificity was 0.78 (95 % CI 0.74–0.81). DOR was 10.26 (95 % CI 5.99–17.59), and the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.8125. AFU had great value for the diagnosis of HCC as a serum marker.