Microheterogeneity of Alpha‐fetoprotein in Patient Serum as Demonstrated by Lectin Affino‐electrophoresis

Abstract

Microheterogeneity of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) present in the sera of 76 patients was studied by lectin affino-immunoelectrophoresis. Seventeen patients had benign liver disorders and the remaining 59 patients were treated for primary or secondary liver cancer or yolk sac tumour. By means of Con A, AFP was divided into two variants, while lentil lectin (LCA) made it possible to separate AFP in three variants. In some patients the relative concentrations of Con A and LCA AFP variants were similar; these patients were believed to produce AFP of the same 'profile'. Fourteen AFP profiles were observed by estimation of the area enclosed by precipitates corresponding to respective AFP variants. It was also possible to estimate the AFP profile on the basis of a simple visual analysis of the electrophoretic plates. The obtained results indicate that the AFP profiles of patients with cancer were variable. In spite of variations of the AFP profile in cancer patients, in most cases it was possible to differentiate primary liver cancer from yolk sac tumour and from liver metastases of cancer. In addition, in two-thirds of hepatoma patients the AFP profile was different from the profile observed in patients with benign liver disorders.

Hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach

“…After birth, the protein level in the serum rapidly decreases. However, under pathologic conditions, AFP is detected in the serum of adults with hepatocellular carcinoma, those with yolk sac tumors, and those with noncancerous liver disease associated with liver regeneration, such as cirrhosis and hepatitis [2][3][4][5][6]. AFPProducing malignant tumors have been reported in several organs; for example, the lung [7,8], pancreas [9,10], Macroscopic type and the depth are according to the Japanese classification of gastric carcinoma [25] NA, details not available; BW, body weight; U, upper-third portion; M, middle-third portion; L, lower-third portion; U 1 , remnant stomach; TG, total gastrectomy; STG, subtotal gastrectomy; DG, distal gastrectomy; PG, partial gastrectomy; GR, gastric resection; LR, liver resection; li, liver; ln, lymph nodes; lu, lung; p, peritoneum; panc, pancreas; om, omentum; 5-FU, 5-fluorouracil; MMC, mitomycin C; ADM, adriamycin; AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; PIVKA-II, des-γ-carboxy prothrombin; CEA, carcinoembryonic antigen; CA 19-9, carbohydrate artigen 19-9; TS-1, 1M tegafur-0.4 M gimestat-1 M ostat potassium; CDDP, cisplatin; 5'DFUR, 5Ј-deoxy-5-fluorouridine; UFT, tegafur uracil; rad 1 , intraoperative radiation therapy; rad 2 , postoperative radiation therapy; died, died of the disease colon [11], bladder [12], and ovary [13].…”

“…After birth, the level of the protein in serum rapidly decreases. However, its level is elevated in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and in those with noncancerous liver diseases associated with liver regeneration, such as cirrhosis and hepatitis [2][3][4][5][6]. Recently, AFP-producing tumors have been reported in several different organs [7][8][9][10][11][12][13], with gastric adenocarcinoma being one of the most common of these tumors [14].…”

Immunohistologic study on the expressions of [alpha ]-fetoprotein and protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist II in surgically resected small hepatocellular carcinoma

“…Therefore, HCC specificity of serum AFP has been questioned. 1 However, since Breborowicz et al 2 and Miyazaki et al 3 demonstrated increases of lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive fraction of AFP in HCC at various levels, AFP that increases in hepatitis and cirrhosis became distinguishable from HCC-related AFP, and the examination of lens culinaris agglutinin-AFP fraction of serum AFP has been reported to be useful for HCC diagnosis. [4][5][6][7] On the other hand, PIVKA-II rarely increases with cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis, and possesses a high specificity to HCC.…”

Close topographical relationship in alpha foetoprotein (AFP) between a lens culinaris binding glycan and the epitope recognized by AFP-reactive monoclonal antibody, 18H4

“…The fucosylated and non-fucosylated molecular species of AFP can be measured by crossed immuno-affinoelectrophoresis with LCA, by taking advantage of the reactivity of the fucosylated species with this lectin. Similar methods have been widely used for diagnosis of neural tube defects (Smith et al, 1979;ToftagerLarsen et al, 1983) and liver diseases (Miyazaki et al, 1981;Breborowicz et al, 1981) with lectins such as Con A and LCA. Recently a new attempt by immunoblotting technique for the discrimination of AFP species has been reported by Taketa et al (1985).…”

“…Several galactohydrolase was from Boeringer Mannheim Bioinvestigators have reported heterogeneous reactivity of AFP chemica (W. Germany). with lectins (Smith et al, 1977;Bayard & Kerckaert, 1977;Miyazaki et al, 1981; Monoclonal anti-AFP antibodies Breborowicz et al, 1981;Taketa et al, 1983) (Aoyagi et al, 1984(Aoyagi et al, , 1985a(Aoyagi et al, , 1986 (Aoyagi et al, 1984). Fucosylation of the sugar chain is the isolated immunoglobulins were pure as revelaed by sodium molecular basis for this variation of AFP (Aoyagi et al, dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis andim1985a,b, 1986).…”