Guide for diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 2 Currently used and investigational serum tumour markers[101]

Markers	Character	Cut-off level	Sensitivity	Specificity	Comments
AFP	Oncofoetal glycoprotein	10-16 ng/dL	60%-80%	70%-90%	Poor marker alone
		20 ng/dL	39%-66%	76%-97%
AFP-L3	AFP variant (subtype)	10%	39.9%	93.4%	Useful in combination
		15%	36.1%-96%	92%-99.5%	with other markers
GP73	Golgi-specific membrane protein	10 relative units	69%	86%	Promising marker
GPC3	Oncofoetal glycoprotein	2 ng/dL	51%	90%	Limited utility as a marker
DCP	Abnormal prothrombin	40 mAU/mL	48%-62%	81%-98%	Useful in combination
HS-GGT	Abnormal prothrombin	5.5 IU/mL	43.8%-74%	Not available	Non specific
AFU	Lysosomal enzyme	870 nmol/mL per hour	82%	71%	Lower specificity and poor marker

AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein; AFP-L3: Lens culinaris-reactive AFP; GP73: Golgi protein 73; GPC3: Glypican-3; DCP: Des-gamma-carboxyprothrombin; GGT: Gamma-glutamyl transferase; AFU: Alpha-L-fucosidase.