Method Developed to Detect AFP and GP73 Simultaneously

Liver cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in males and the sixth in females worldwide. An estimated 782,500 new liver cancer cases and 745,500 deaths occurred worldwide during 2012.

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a biomarker that is commonly used in the clinic for Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) diagnosis and to predict HCC progression especially in chronic hepatitis B (HBV) infected patients. Golgi protein 73 (GP73) is a biomarker for advanced liver diseases and the increase in GP73 levels is correlated with various liver diseases.


Scientists at Capital Medical University, Beijing, PR China) used anti-human AFP and GP73 monoclonal antibodies to develop a sandwich immunity reaction using xMAP technology for the simultaneous detection of plasma AFP and GP73. The assay evaluated the sensitivity, cross reactivity, range of detection, precision, recovery and linearity dilution effect. The assay utilized plasma samples and compared its performance with commercially available Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) kits. The team used the Luminex-200 analyzer and the iMark microplate reader.

The scientists analyzed 80 clinical plasma samples using the Luminex multiplex assay system and commercially available ELISA kits. The correlation coefficient of AFP and GP73 were 0.997 and 0.959 respectively. The results showed that the AFP levels from HCC patient samples were significantly higher than from patient samples with liver cirrhosis and healthy controls. However, AFP levels in patients with liver cirrhosis were not significantly different from that of healthy controls. The GP73 levels of samples from HCC and liver cirrhosis patients were significantly higher than healthy controls; however, the GP73 levels from patients with HCC and liver cirrhosis were not significantly different.

The authors concluded that they have established a new method to detect AFP and GP73 levels in plasma samples simultaneously using the Luminex xMAP technology. The method demonstrated a sensitive, effective, and accurate method and the assay could be used clinically for routine detection and monitoring of patients with HBV related diseases. The study was published in the July 2018 issue of the journal Clinica Chimica Acta.

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