Alpha-fetoprotein for Gastric Cancer Staging: An Essential or Redundant Tumor Marker?

This study was designed to clarify the value of routine alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) testing for patients with gastric cancer (GC). A total of 905 patients with newly diagnosed GC and available pretreatment carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer-related antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), and AFP data from 2010 to 2016 were collected for comparison of tumor stage and survival. In total, 139 patients (15.4%), 155 patients (17.1%), and 27 patients (3.0%) had elevated CEA, CA19-9, and AFP levels, respectively. The c-index values of elevated AFP levels in predicting stage IV disease and the 1-year mortality rate were 0.564 (95%CI=0.520-0.608) and 0.594 (95%CI=0.553-0.635), respectively, which were significantly lower than those of CEA (0.673 and 0.665) and CA19-9 (0.619 and 0.618). Elevated AFP is rare in patients with newly diagnosed GC. Routine AFP sampling would not provide a higher survival prediction in GC patients than CEA or CA19-9. Copyright © 2021 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.

Citation

Chun-Yi Tsai, Keng-Hao Liu, Cheng-Tang Chiu, Shun-Wen Hsueh, Chia-Yen Hung, Jun-Te Hsu, Ngan-Ming Tsang, Yu-Shin Hung, Wen-Chi Chou. Alpha-fetoprotein for Gastric Cancer Staging: An Essential or Redundant Tumor Marker? Anticancer research. 2021 May;41(5):2711-2718

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PMID: 33952502

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