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.

In an iodine deficient area, a high incidence of hot thyroid nodules was observed in children after the introduction of iodine supplementation in 1997. Thirty-one children (28 girls, 3 boys) were identified with hot nodules between the years 1996-2000 (3 patients in 1996, 4 in 1997, 10 in 1998, 7 in 1999, and 7 in 2000). The incidence ratio of hot nodules in this study population increased significantly from 0.23 in 1996 to 0.80 in 1998. In 17 children, radionuclide uptake was confined exclusively to areas corresponding to the nodules. Cancer was detected in one child in post-operative histological examination. In the other 14 children, the predominant uptake was in nodules, but it was also registered within extranodular tissue. In the latter group, eight tumors were eventually diagnosed as cancer and six as benign tumors. The majority of tumors in the entire group was located in the right lobe (19/31) and was accompanied by reduced TSH levels (23/31), but only 14 of the 31 patients had signs of hyperthyroidism. The years 1996-2000, in which the increase in the incidence of "hot" nodules in children with nodular goiter was observed, correspond to a period of enforced salt iodinization. The existence of cancer within hot nodules is rare, ranging from 2-5% of all nodules. By contrast, the risk of cancer in hot nodules in the cohort of this study was significantly higher (9/31; 29.0%), especially in cases of hot nodules with a rudimentary radionuclide uptake in the extranodular area. We conclude that, in geographical regions affected with iodine deficiency, the therapeutic protocol for children with hot nodules should be based primarily on surgery rather than on radioiodine.

Thyroid carcinoma appears to be an ongoing and increasing problem in the children and adolescents of our region, and it is developing more intensively when compared, both to other parts of Poland and to previous statistics (2000 vs. 1985; P<0.002). Iodine deficiency and radiation resulting from the Chernobyl disaster might be important risk factors in the development of thyroid carcinoma in the young population analysed in our region in the period since 1994. The high percentage of follicular carcinoma and follicular adenoma with an undetermined prognosis (19 out of 46) indicates that the long-term iodine deficiency in our region may be more significant in the pathogenesis of malignant transformation than has previously been postulated.

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staining of renal tubules in normal kidney. APMIS 105: 31-34, 1997. Lectins are glycoproteins able to bind carbohydrate structures specifically. In this study we applied six different lectins on normal renal tissue to investigate their specificity for different segments of the renal tubular system. The following lectins were used: jacalin, peanut agglutinin (PNA), wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), phytohemagglutinin E (PHA-E), concanavalin A (Con A), and Dolichos biflorus agglutinin (DBA). Particular attention was paid to jacalin lectin as its staining properties respecting the renal tubular system were not known. We showed that jacalin lectin strongly stains the luminal border of distal tubules, as well as single cells of the collecting tubules. As regards the other five lectins, PNA stained distal tubules, WGA the whole nephron, PHA-E proximal tubules, and Con A and DBA a few cells of the loop of Henle.