Elevated serum alpha fetoprotein levels promote pathological progression of hepatocellular carcinoma

Figure 1 Survival rates of hepatocellular carcinoma patients and expression of alpha fetoprotein and alpha fetoprotein receptor in tumor tissues. A: Comparison of survival rates in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with various alpha fetoprotein (AFP) levels who were treated surgically or non-surgically. Serum AFP levels of these HCC patients were divided into three groups: < 20 μg/L, 20-250 μg/L and > 250 μg/L; B: Immunohistochemical analysis of AFP and AFP receptor (AFPR) expressions in HCC tumor tissues. Membranous expression of AFPR is indicated with arrows. HE: Hematoxylin-eosin staining; AFP: Alpha fetoprotein; AFPR: Alpha fetoprotein receptor; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma.