Clinical significance of α‐fetoprotein: involvement in proliferation, angiogenesis, and apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

These results indicate that the poor prognosis associated with high alpha-fetoprotein is due to high cell proliferation, high angiogenesis, and low apoptosis.

The diffusion-weighted imaging perfusion fraction f is a potential marker of sorafenib treatment in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: a pilot study

“…This f increase might be a factor of better prognosis and perhaps of treatment efficacy. Such a view is consistent with the inverse correlation at 2-months between f values and αFP levels: high αFP levels are associated with low OS, high microvascularization density and likely tumor cell dedifferentiation as suggested by our pathologic findings [30]. In addition, the baseline data suggest f might be of predictive value to anticipate patient responsiveness prior to treatment.…”

Early increase in α-fetoprotein for predicting unfavorable clinical outcomes in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with sorafenib

“…Early increase in AFP may thus be a predictive biomarker for tumor progression and worsening of clinical outcomes, and clinicians should be cautious about continuing sorafenib in patients with early increase in AFP. This is particularly important because AFP can induce high cell proliferation, high angiogenesis, and low apoptosis as indicated by analyses of AFP mRNA expression [26].…”

Current biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma: Surveillance, diagnosis and prediction of prognosis

“…High expression of AFP in serum correlates with high cell proliferation, high angiogenesis and low apoptosis and is associated with poor prognosis [75,76] . The fraction of AFP-L3 is another prognostic biomarker for survival after resection of HCC [77,78] .…”