Relationship of hepatitis B surface antigen to serum alpha-fetoprotein in nonmalignant diseases of the liver

Abstract

Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels were measured by radioimmunoassay in 89 healthy adult Chinese, 170 patients with histologically verified non-malignant liver diseases, and 14 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriers with normal liver histology. In 97% of the healthy adults, AFP levels were under 20 ng/ml, which is then regarded as the normal upper limit. Cases with supranormally elevated AFP levels ranged from 15-51% in chronic hepatic disorders and were 33% in acute hepatitis. None of the healthy HBsAg carriers had abnormal AFP level. HBs antigenemia was found to be related to AFP elevation in chronic active hepatitis, cirrhosis, and acute hepatitis but not in chronic persistent hepatitis and healthy HBsAg carriers. The correlation could be demonstrated only when the sensitive third generation test was employed to define seropositivity of HBsAg. Events after hepatic injury induced by hepatitis B virus, rather than the HBs antigenemia itself, are probably responsible for the association. Whether the association of HBsAg and elevated serum AFP in these nonmalignant hepatic disorders contributes to the higher risk of subsequent development of hepatocarcinoma in Taiwan is unknown and requires further long-term longitudinal study.