Clinical application of AFP-L3 in diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To explore the clinical application of Lectin-reactive Alpha-fetoprotein(AFP-L3) in diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods The micro-spin column coupled with lens culinaris agglutinin(LCA) was used to isolate the AFP-L3 from the serums of 180 patients with primary liver cancer(52),cirrhosis of liver(44),chronic hepatitis(63) and primary biliary cirrhosis(21).AFP and AFP-L3 were determined by Cobas E601 Automatic Electro chemiluminescence Immunoassay analyzer,and the proportion of AFP-L3 levels were calculated.Results The AFP-L3(%) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma was significantly higher than that in patients with other liver diseases(P0.01);and accordingly as AFP-L3(%)≥10% being the diagnosis criteria,the sensitivity and specificity of patients diagnosed with liver cancer was 90.4% and 96.1% respectively.Conclusions The detection of AFP-L3 by micro-spin column assay showed great clinical value in the differentiation diagnosis and prediction of prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.