Evaluation of the Combined Application of AFP, AFP-L3%, and DCP for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Diagnosis: A Meta-analysis

The role of α-fetoprotein (AFP) in the surveillance and diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been questioned in recent years due to its low sensitivity and specificity. In addition to AFP, several new serum biomarkers, such as lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive fraction of AFP (AFP-L3) and des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin (DCP), have also been identified as useful HCC serological markers. However, the exact diagnostic value of the combinations of these biomarkers for detecting HCC in patients with liver disease remains unclear. Thus, we performed the current meta-analysis to assess performance of AFP+AFP-L3%+DCP for diagnosing HCC. Studies were systematically searched in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, CNKI, and WanFang Data databases. After full-text evaluation, 13 studies from 11 articles focusing on the combination of the three serum biomarkers for HCC detection were enrolled. Random-effects models were used due to the presence of heterogeneity. The pooled sensitivity and specificity for AFP+AFP-L3%+DCP were 88% and 79%, respectively. The area under the summary receiver operating characteristic (sROC) curve was 0.91, and the diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) was 28.33 (95% CI 16.78-47.83). Subgroup analysis showed that the pooled sensitivity and specificity of AFP+AFP-L3%+DCP in the diagnosis of HCC versus cirrhosis patients were 0.81 and 0.82, respectively. In conclusion, the combination of AFP, AFP-L3%, and DCP may prove to be useful in the diagnosis and screening of HCC.