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Clinical Chemistry, Vol 19, 1069-1070, Copyright © 1973 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry
1-Fetoprotein
1 Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School,
and the Department of Medicine (Gastrointestinal Unit), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass. 02114.
A latex-agglutination assay for
-fetoprotein (AFP)
has been evaluated and compared to the results obtained by counter-immunoelectrophoresis (CIEP).
Both of these tests must be performed on both undiluted and diluted sera, to avoid prozone effects.
Agglutination of control latex, coated with normal
rabbit gamma globulin, by sera from 8% of hepatoma patients and 18% of patients with other liver diseases makes the test inconclusive in these patients.
Nevertheless, there was 88.6% agreement with CIEP
in the detection of AFP in a series of 50 hepatoma
patients. There were no false positives for sera from
98 patients with other liver diseases or for normal
controls. We conclude that latex agglutination is a
simple, specific way to screen large numbers of sera
for AFP, if all positive results are confirmed by a
control latex test and CIEP.
Submitted on May 4, 1973
Accepted on May 24, 1973
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