Highly Sensitive Lens culinaris Agglutinin-Reactive α-Fetoprotein: A New Tool for the Management of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

OBJECTIVES: The highly sensitive Lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive α-fetoprotein (hs-AFP-L3), measured using a newly developed method involving microfluidics-based separation technology, was evaluated as a new tool for the management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in clinical practice. METHODS: The sensitivity and specificity of hs-AFP-L3 for the diagnosis of HCC and its ability to predict the outcome of patients with HCC were analyzed based on reported studies. RESULTS: Compared to AFP-L3 measured using conventional methods, the sensitivity of hs-AFP-L3 was markedly higher and the specificity was comparable. In all studies, multivariate analysis found that elevation of hs-AFP-L3 was an independent factor that affected patient survival. CONCLUSIONS: The use of hs-AFP-L3 improves the true positive rate of patients with HCC at diagnosis, maintaining the high specificity of AFP-L3 and its indicative value for poor prognosis. The utility of this tumor marker for prediction of the development of HCC in high-risk patients under surveillance needs to be investigated.