Clinical application of highly sensitive α-fetoprotein variant ratio in the diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To evaluate the clinical application value of serum high sensitive α-fetoprotein variant ratio (hs-AFP-L3%) in the diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods From October 2016 to March 2018, at Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, 160 patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma, 32 patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), 52 patients with post-hepatitis B liver cirrhosis, 53 patients with chronic hepatitis B and 50 healthy controls were enrolled. The serum levels of hs-AFP-L3% and α-fetoprotein were measured. Mann-Whitney U test, Spearman correlation analysis, Wilcoxon signed rank test and chi-square test were performed for statistical analysis. Results The serum levels of hs-AFP-L3% and α-fetoprotein in hepatocellular carcinoma group were 24.90% (4.68% to 61.85%) and 113.45 μg/L (11.18 μg/L to 1 803.48 μg/L), respectively, which were higher than those in ICC group (0.50%, 0.50% to 0.50%; and 2.79 μg/L, 1.72 μg/L to 4.04 μg/L), cirrhosis group (0.50%, 0.50% to 5.25%; and 18.35 μg/L, 3.95 μg/L to 31.93 μg/L), chronic hepatitis group (0.50%, 0.50% to 4.25%; and 2.70 μg/L, 1.80 μg/L to 17.00 μg/L), and healthy control group (0.50%, 0.50% to 0.50%; and 1.94 μg/L, 1.46 μg/L to 2.63 μg/L), and the differences were statistically significant (U=461.00, 1 485.50, 1 141.00, 625.00; 401.50, 2 207.00, 1 254.00, 266.00; all P 0.05). The sensitivity of the combined detection was 82.5%, which was higher than that of the separate detection, and the differences were statistically significant (χ2=24.04 and 18.05, both P 0.05). The sensitivity of hs-AFP-L3% in the diagnosis of patients with α-fetoprotein-negative (α-fetoprotein 0.05). Conclusions The sensitivity of hs-AFP-L3% is similar to that of α-fetoprotein in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma, while the specificity of hs-AFP-L3% is higher than that of α-fetoprotein. The combined detection of the two markers can improve the diagnostic rate of hepatocellular carcinoma. The hs-AFP-L3% has a high diagnostic value in α-fetoprotein-negative hepatocellular carcinoma. Key words: Alpha-fetoprotein; Carcinoma, hepatocellular; Fluorescent antibody technique; Variant