ISSN:
1365-3083
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and serum alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) was determined in 24 patients with germ cell neoplasms of the gonads and extra-gonadal sites.Although when serial determinations are performed a correlation between AAT and AFP can be seen, 71 determinations of AAT as well as AFP in the serum of the patients with germ cell tumours gave the following results: when the AFP-concentration was below 20 ng/ml, the AAT values were always below the upper limit of the normal range (4.0 g/l); with AFP-values well above 20 ng/ml, the AAT concentration was elevated (〉4.0 g/l) in only 33% of the cases; in all the sera with an elevated AAT-level, the AFP-concentration was—mostly considerably—enhanced; and in 45% of the sera with normal (or lowered) AAT, there was a diagnostically meaningful elevation of the AFP-concentration. In addition data from 9 patients with tumours not of germ cell origin undergoing therapy showed considerable variations of AAT-values at normal AFP concentrations.It is therefore considered that although there is evidence that AAT is produced by EST, serum AAT is not a useful monitor of disease activity in these patients, especially when compared with serum AFP.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3083.1978.tb03915.x
