Serum AFP levels in patients suffering from 47 different types of cancers and noncancer diseases

Abstract Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a glycoprotein and belongs to the gene family of serum albumins. The serum AFP levels were found to be elevated in the sera of liver cancer patients in 1964 and were subsequently developed and used as a liver cancer biomarker. However, elevated serum AFP levels have been observed in patients suffering from other cancer and noncancer diseases. Up to date, a systematic comparison of the serum AFP levels in different diseases has not been reported. In current study, 66,682 clinical lab test results of serum AFP levels from healthy individuals and patients with 47 different types of diseases during the past 5 years were retrieved and analyzed. Based on the mean (SD), median, and p (− Log 10 p ) values, we found that patients suffering from liver, breast, esophagus, cervical, pancreatic, endometrial, gastric, lung, rectum cancers in addition to noncancer diseases cirrhosis, nephrotic syndrome, and gastritis had significantly ( p