Prospective study on the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma by using alpha-fetoprotein reactive to lentil lectin

In order to study the changes in AFP reactive to lentil lectin (AFP-R-L) during the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its clinical significance, AFP-R-L was monitored in 64 patients by using 20-400 ng/L AFP and negative imaging localization. AFP-R-L was determined by using affino-crossed-immunoelectrophoresis autoradiography. AFP-R-L above 25% was considered positive for the diagnosis of HCC. Over a follow-up of 3-31 months, 32 patients developed HCC. The positivity of AFP-R-L was 59.4% in the HCC group at the first assay. The accuracy of using positive AFP-R-L values to predict HCC was 95.0%. Increased AFP-R-L levels appeared 3-24 months earlier than did positive imaging location. The results suggest that positive AFP-R-L values can predict the development of HCC.