ALPHA-FETOPROTEIN GLYCOSYLATION IS ABNORMAL IN SOME HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMAS, INCLUDING WHITE PATIENTS WITH A NORMAL ALPHA-FETOPROTEIN CONCENTRATION

Lectin-affinity analyses with Lens culinaris agglutinin (LCA) and othe r lectins have demonstrated that the glycosylation of alpha-fetoprotei n (AFP) secreted by hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) is frequently alte red when the serum AFP concentration is increased. To determine if AFP LCA-binding properties are altered in patients with HCC whose serum A FP concentration is normal, the percentage of LCA-binding AFP in serum from white newborns, white normal adults, white patients with chronic hepatitis and hereditary tyrosinemia and white and black patients wit h HCC were determined. The serum LCA-binding AFP fraction was low in n ewborns (1-4%) and normal adults (1-8%). There was a significant incre ase in LCA-binding AFP in patients with chronic hepatitis (10-24%) and hereditary tyrosinemia (5-35%). The AFP LCA-binding fraction was clea rly abnormal (greater than 40%) in three of the white patients with an HCC and a normal serum AFP concentration, and the range of values (10 -63%) in these HCC patients was similar to that seen in both white and black patients with HCC accompanied by increased AFP concentrations.