Plasma PIVKA-II values as an indicator of AFP mRNA in the circulation in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract We examined the relationship between the values of plasma protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist II (PIVKA-II) and serum α -fetoprotein (AFP) and the presence of AFP mRNA in the mononuclear cells of the peripheral blood in 50 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) . AFP mRNA in the blood was detected in 26 of 50 patients with HCC (52.0%). The frequency of positive cases in each TNM stage was: none of 5 in stage I, 3 of 14 (21.4%) in stage II, 6 of 10 (60.0%) in stage III and 17 of 21 (81.0%) in stage IV. AFP mRNA was detected more frequently in patients with high serum AFP level (400 ng/ml and more than 400 ng/ml) (12/16, 75.0%) than in those with low AFP level (less than 400 ng/ml) (14/34, 41.2%) ( P P P