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Updated: Jul 19, 2026
Chemically-blocked Antibody Microarray for Multiplexed High-throughput Profiling of Specific Protein Glycosylation in Complex Samples
Published on: May 4, 2012
Hepatocellular oncofetal protein, glypican 3 is a sensitive marker for alpha-fetoprotein-producing gastric carcinoma
M Hishinuma1, K-I Ohashi, N Yamauchi
1Department of Pathology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Aims:
Glypican 3 (GPC3) is a cell surface heparan sulphate proteoglycan expressed specifically in the fetal liver and malignant neoplasms of hepatocyte lineage. The aim was to evaluate the significance of GPC3 in alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)-producing gastric carcinoma (GC) and other forms of GC.
Methods And Results:
We immunohistochemically evaluated GPC3 expression in representative cases of AFP-producing GC and in a tissue microarray of a consecutive series of GCs with other markers of hepatocyte lineage (AFP, PIVKA-II and hepatocyte antigen, HEP). In a series of 10 cases of AFP-producing GC, we observed immunohistochemical positivity for GPC3, PIVKA-II and HEP in 10, three and three cases in components with a hepatoid pattern and in nine, two and five cases in components with a non-hepatoid pattern, respectively. In a series of 118 cases of GC, we observed positivity for AFP, GPC3, PIVKA-II and HEP in one (0.8%), four (3.4%), six (5.1%) and 26 cases (22%), respectively. GPC3 was observed concurrently with AFP and discordantly with PIVKA-II and HEP. GPC3 positivity was clearly stronger in a larger area compared with immunoreactivity for AFP.
Conclusions:
GPC3 is a sensitive marker for AFP-producing GC and its hepatoid component and is therefore useful to identify this aggressive subgroup of GC.
